First of all, I am sure it may be already known that I am a die-hard Mets fan and can not wait until they make it back to the playoffs. So I have to admit I am very excited about what I am seeing so far even though it wasn’t something that I actually expected.
It has been a long nine years since the Mets have tasted the post season and I feel it is about time, but is this team made up to be a winner?
I didn’t this see coming, the 11-3 start and a nine game winning streak. The last time I could remember the Mets having such a hot start, was in 1986 when they also started at 2-3 and then won the next 11 games to get their season rolling in the right direction towards a World Championship.
But this group isn’t made up like that ’86 team was, this team is different, especially since no one saw this coming, other than maybe the players themselves.
The Mets came into the season with many questions, like would Matt Harvey be as good as he was before the surgery?, is Wilmer Flores the shortstop the Mets have been searching for and would he hit?, is Travis d’Arnaud good enough to hold down the catching position?, will David Wright return to all-star form?, is Curtis Granderson the difference maker in the lineup? These are just a few of many questions that I am sure I am not the only one that was hoping for answers.
But if you look at the stats, there are four players batting over .300, but two are Wright and d’Arnaud, and both are on the disabled list. Actually d’Arnaud and Flores are tied for first on the club with two home runs and the catcher leads the team with 10 RBI’s. So when you see that the offense doesn’t look to be much of an offense, how can the winning streak be explained?
Well if looking at the pitching staff, Harvey (3-0, 3.50) and Bartolo Colon (3-0, 2.25) have won their first three games, Jon Niese (2-0, 1.50) is having a solid start to the season and Jacob deGrom (2-1, 0.93) is following up his 2014 Rookie of the Year season with a possible run at the Cy Young award.
So to answer the question how are they continuing to win, the answer has to be good pitching and timely hitting and the obvious, Terry Collins is pushing the right buttons. If you know me, you already know that I am not a fan of Collins, but he has the guys playing very good baseball and they look to be winning games with ease. For that I tip my cap to the skipper. And it is also obvious that the team doesn’t seem to have missed a step without Wright nor d’Arnaud, even with promoting Kevin Plawecki and watching him get in on the action with his first two hits in his major league debut on Tuesday.
There is nothing better than to see a Mets team piling up the W’s, and just hoping that this is all real and when Wright and d’Arnaud return, they will just jump in the mix and continue the winning ways throughout the summer and into the fall.
I don’t want to get ahead of myself, I know it is only April, but so far it has been a great start and if I can’t get excited about it now, when am I supposed to?
The question remains, “Are the Mets the real deal?”, well so far it sure looks like it.
David Conde
David is the Co-Founder and Executive Editor of Legends On Deck®, as well as a Co-Host on Legends On Deck Podcast. David was a Senior Editor for MetsMerizedOnline.com, MetsMinors.net and Contributor for Hardballchat.com that spanned from 2010 to 2014. David made his MLB Debut as a writer in June 2014, while covering the NY Mets at Citi Field, for MetsmerizedOnline.com. David also coaches baseball for ages 13-15, a Babe Ruth League team in his local community. David's passion is coaching the game he loves to the future Legends of Tomorrow as well as making available a website that people can have fun sharing and reading. David is also passionate about his career as a Mortgage Loan Officer which allows him to help many families reach their dreams of owning a home. Connect with David via his Social Media pages as he loves to chat all about baseball.
You must be logged in to post a comment.