Do You Believe in Miracles?
Waking up four back in the NL East is not where any of us expected this team to be a week ago
On Friday night in Washington, D.C., the Mets won their sixth consecutive game (suspended games be damned), beating the Nationals 6-2 in extra innings. Rich Hill cruised, Jonathan Villar raked, and New York picked up Edwin Diaz after an uncharacteristic-of-late blown save with a four-run 10th to secure the victory.
Everything was coming up Metsies outside of the nation’s capital, as well. The Rockies staved off Atlanta for a 4-3 win, leaving New York four back in the NL East, and the Reds, Phillies, and Padres all lost, resulting in an identical deficit in the NL Wild Card race.
Since waking up last Saturday at eight-and-a-half games back in the division, the Mets have made up four-and-a-half games in the standings. In the words of the late Mel Allen, how about that?
Pete Alonso (2-for-5 with two runs driven in and a pivotal extra-base taken in the 10th) remarked after the Mets climbed back to level ground (67-67 on the season) that “you can’t make the playoffs if you’re below .500”.
This true. You also can’t make headway like the Mets have made over the last seven days without a little outside help.
After steamrolling through August (18-8), the Braves have slowed considerably, losing five-of-six since heading out west (swept by the Dodgers, one-and-one with Colorado heading into Saturday) and looking wholly human again.
That’s what we’re talking about. Combine baseball teams doing baseball things (peaks and valleys, friends) with the Mets going on a little tear of their own and, suddenly and quite surprisingly, there’s some steam power behind this impossible dream.
The Mets have scored 33 runs over their last six wins (including the suspended game), going 60-for-199 at the plate (.302) with nine home runs. That’ll play.
They’ve gone just 9-for-38 with runners in scoring position through this stretch (.239), but they’re getting the big hits when they need them and, let’s be honest, any improvement over their putrid August production with RISP (.177/.272/.301, 57 wRC+) will be embraced. Baby steps.
Jonathan Villar — who finished August with a .307/.365/.532 slash and team-leading 143 wRC+ — has been an absolute spark plug, as evidenced by his four-hit game on Friday night.
Mets skipper Luis Rojas and the team’s decision-makers clearly took note of the 30-year-old’s productivity in the leadoff spot during Brandon Nimmo’s absence this season, inserted him atop the lineup in light of the data, and it’s been smooth sailing since.
Batting out the leadoff spot, Villar is hitting .290/.376/.516. Leading off the game, he’s at .308/.486/.462. Leading off any inning, Villar is slashing .340/.421/.630. Love to see that.
“I think [Villar’s] level of confidence has increased,” Rojas told reporters after Friday’s win. “He’s hitting at the top of the order and I think he feels that everyone here trusts him to get our offense going, and that’s exactly what he’s doing.”
Even the Mets’ pitching staff, who’s had their fair share of ups and downs this season, is regaining momentum. Again, a huge development.
Sans their suspended-game win over Miami this week, New York’s 2.45 ERA as a staff over this streak leads the majors. Including the five earned runs Taijuan Walker and Heath Hembree allowed in the Mets’ 6-5 technically-April win, that figure increases to 2.88, still good for fifth in MLB.
All good things.
Four back, 28 to play. Marcus Stroman gets the ball in Game 1 on Saturday and Tylor Megill takes the hill in the nightcap. Let’s get weird, friends.
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