A week ago the Mets owned a 3-7 record after 10 games of this 2020 truncated baseball season but this week they won 4 of 6 games in which they have shown tons of mental toughness and you get the sense they have found the answers to some issues that troubled them in their first 10 games.
First of all, the offense has awakened as both Michael Conforto and JD Davis have found their batting strokes and young players like Dominic Smith and Andre Gimenez have contributed illustrating their mega-high on the field IQ.
Gimenez is an especially interesting case because so many Met fans lament the Cano trade giving up a top prospect in Jarred Kelenic but as I said the night the trade was made and continue to say the Met kept the right prospect in Gimenez because he is a better player than Kelenic with his versatility to play a plethora of positions.
He has shown his abilities in a multitude of ways and on Sunday illustrated he can hit, bunt his way on base, run the bases with passion and intelligent decision making and he showed that all in one at bat in the sixth inning against the Marlins bunting his way on, advancing effortlessly from first to third on a single and then scoring on a very short fly ball off the bat of Jeff McNeil plating a very important insurance run.
The bullpen has also found their way giving manager Luis Rojas 12 outs for the third consecutive day and more importantly in the process it seems Edwin Diaz has performed well in a non-closing role setting up Sunday’s save for Seth Lugo. Jared Hughes and Dellin Betances also pitched well and along with Justin Wilson seem to be giving the Mets that solid bridge to Lugo.
The starting pitching has been hit by injuries going back to March when they lost Noah Syndergaard and then in summer camp Marcus Stroman hit the injured list while Michael Wacha landed on that injured list yesterday as he was experiencing shoulder pain. But Stroman is inching closer to a return and David Peterson has given them 3 very good starts. Even Rick Porcello, who had struggled pitched a gem this week in DC and he seems to have found his way
Yesterday, Jacob deGrom had to deal with a finger issue in the second inning as it looked like he had a blister but typical deGrom-he toughed it out giving his team 5 solid innings earning his second win of the season.
But even after a good week the Mets still sit 2 games under 500 at 7-9 and really need to take this upcoming series with the Nationals as winning 3 of these 4 games would get them to the .500 mark before they head on the road to Philly and Miami.
In this truncated season, poor starts are tough to deal with but also remember with more teams making the playoff party than ever before there is a cushion provided you finish no worse than second in the division. And with this hot week, they have already escaped the NL East cellar and actually reside ahead of both the Phils and Nationals trailing the second place Braves by 3 in the loss column.
My message to Met fans here is with the added playoff teams a gentle push upwards in your division can really get you into the thick of playoff contention. And with this team getting contributions from unlikely sources they could really move up those standings in a hurry.
And I firmly believe depth like Dominic Smith and Andre Gimenez will both be huge assets for them in the coming weeks. Both have waited their whole lives for consistent day to day major league playing time and both play like grizzled veterans.
All in all, a good week for the Mets but this coming one with 7 Divisional games versus the Nats and Phils will be key for them as it presents an opportunity to move further up in the standings.
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