06/16/21 chicago cubs vs NY Mets at Citifield Queens NY Neil Miller The New York Extra/TheNYExtra.com copyright 2021 #48 Jacob De Grom pitches in the 3rd innning #48 Jacob DeGrom pitches in the 1st inninng #48 Jacob De Grom pitches in the 1st inningn
Some Random Met thoughts as we head into the second half of the season
They went into sole possession of first place on May 9 and have been there ever since for 68 straight days . They started their tough DH stretch with a 4.5 game lead and their opponents in NL East only shaved off 1 game in that lead as it stands at 3.5. With all of their injuries and weather cancellations that is downright amazing. Still much work to do in second half but their positive home record and divisional record drove the bus in the first half fueled by the best overall pitching staff in the game coupled with superb defensive play. And did all of that not getting 1 inning pitched from either Carlos Carrasco or Noah Syndergaard plus missing half of their everyday lineup for a bulk of the season.
I still think the Nats or the Braves will make a run but this Met team is in a great position to capture NL East Title for the first time since 2015. Luis Rojas steers the ship as manager in a positive clear and concise way and at the halfway point no manager has done a better job in baseball. Sandy Alderson built a deep roster and there is a reason only Sandy has pulled a NY Team in the WS since 2010. And he did it with the handcuffs of the Madoff fallout. He is a brilliant head of baseball ops and I am sure he will add to this roster by the trading deadline. That is my take as we head into baseball’s second half as clearly the Mets are NY’s best shot at a title. In fact, when Yankees and Mets played in Bronx the Mets took 2 of 3 without pitching deGrom and having to face Cole (in a game they won). I saw it in the late 60’s and the decade of the 80’s–this town is becoming Mer-Centric before our very eyes.
Clearly the New York Mets are one of the real feel good stories in baseball and that has been grossly under reported in our market. Why? Because the so called experts had a narrative already written about the LOL Mets who never get anything right. And sportswriters hate to edit stories already entrenched in their heads. But this Met team had made CitiField an awful place for teams to visit. Ask The Padres. Ask The Cubs. Ask the Brewers. Ask the Phils. Ask The Braves. They all left Citi shaking their heads after losing series after series at Citi. Injury after injury the Mets survive and advance mentality orchestrated by Luis Rojas kept the train moving never complaining for a second about the obstacles put in front of them. They focused their time on moving past the obstacles and did just that.
A great second half awaits MetsNation and I have advice for all Met fans. Ignore the detractors and do not waste a second debating their takes on this team. Spend your time enjoying the ride as fans of NY’s BEST baseball team. And in October they will try to make that next step replacing the NY adjective with merely baseball’s best team. I would not bet against that happening because this squad has been centered on that goal from the first day of spring training.