Tuesday night’s game was called after a 150-minute rain delay — or so, depending on where you were, as the stadium crowd wasn’t notified of the postponement until around 15 minutes after Mets owner Steve Cohen tweeted that the game was banged.
Concession take inflation aside, the Metsies now have two on the docket for Wednesday, and the first is a doozy.
Jacob deGrom and Brewers right-hander Corbin Burnes will square off in Game 1, pitting the first and third most valuable pitchers in the National League (4.8 fWAR for deGrom, 3.8 for Burnes) against each other.
Should be fun. The Mets have been on a bit of a tear offensively as of late, scoring 27 runs over five games in July. Gotta hope they keep that trend going for Jake.
Even without playing on Tuesday, the Mets remain four games up in the NL East. Love to see that.
With Washington’s loss in San Diego and the Phillies’ win over the Cubs (Chicago’s 11th straight loss; oof), the Phils leapfrogged the Nats, who are now four-and-a-half out.
Now that the roster is nearly back to full, healthy capacity, if the Mets can keep their cushion intact and allow the rest of the division to fight amongst themselves, the path to October could be clearer than we thought.
So many variables will contribute to that goal ultimately being achieved, but the foundation is most certainly in place to make a respectable push.
We’ve talked recently about Pete Alonso’s tear since returning from the injured list on May 31 and Francisco Lindor’s uptick after a dreadful start to his stay in Flushing, as well as Brandon Nimmo’s energizing effect on this offense.
But you can’t ignore Dominic Smith’s impact over the last few weeks.
As the Mets’ lead in the division shrank to as little as a game-and-a-half during their offensive lull to end June, Dom was quietly turning his own personal tide.
On June 13, Smith was hitting .237/.303/.337. Following his outstanding 2020 campaign (.316/.377/.616; 164 wRC+, sixth in MLB), this was a bit of a letdown, to say the least.
Since June 14 (78 plate appearances), Dom is hitting .319/.385/.594 with four doubles and five homers. Per sources, that’s better. Awaiting confirmation.
Clearly, the player himself wasn't pleased with his early returns and did something about it. What that was, exactly, is outside our privy. But one would assume Dom simply continued trusting what got him this far — his talent.
Funny how that works, no?
Confidence is such a huge part of this game. Fostering that sort of positive mindset is no easy task when there’s so much a stake — for teams as a whole and players as individuals.
Earlier this season, Trevor May was in a tailspin, allowing nine earned runs (and five homers) over 11 appearances from May 11 to June 14. Since then, the 31-year-old hasn’t allowed a run (10 appearances, 10 IP).
Success is fleeting in this game. We, even as fans, know that story all too well. Trust what got you here, get back on track, keep moving forward seems to be the only way.
But, again, it takes a special level of guidance to keep that atmosphere active. Luis Rojas, as we’ve noted here, has stayed level-headed and even-keeled throughout all of the adversity his squad has faced this season. Invaluable…
The leadership qualities of this coaching staff don’t stop there, though. Mets pitching coach Jeremy Hefner deserves accolades upon accolades for what he’s been able to accomplish under these circumstances.
And yes, it’s very easy to sit back and enjoy the ride with Jacob deGrom atop your rotation and studs like Taijuan Walker and Marcus Stroman slotting in behind him.
But with the revolving door that’s shuffled a total of 13 starting pitchers into the Mets’ clubhouse this season (that includes four openers), New York’s 2.96 rotational earned run average remains best in baseball.
That’s gonna play.
What Hefner and the rest of his staff have been able to do — getting the most out of nearly every guy who’s been called on — has been nothing short of incredible and is just one of the dozens of magical little intricacies a special season needs to flourish.
Toss in the absence of any All-Star Game nods besides deGrom (not that any others outside of Walker or Stroman were deserving), and the talented, now-healthy, first-place Mets also have a small chip to add to their shoulders.
Hey, creating imaginary slights to self-motivate worked for Michael Jordan, right? Let’s go…
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