You have to credit the Mets for not giving up this week. After a 1-5 road trip through Washington and Miami, where wins have been hard to come by for the home team, the Mets proceeded to come home and sweep the Nationals and their dumpster fire of a bullpen to get back to one game under-.500
So, everything is okay in Metland? Right?
Well not necessarily.
This should have been the Mets last week, instead of the won that got swept by Miami. Despite injuries, the Mets were able to call up their outfield depth from Syracuse and feast on the Nationals bullpen. Home runs by Rajai Davis yesterday and Carlos Gomez today proved to be the game winners.
You have to at least smile a bit if you are a Met fan, going into the weekend against the Tigers, who were just swept by the Marlins.
But still some underlying problems remain. Today, it was clear that Robert Gsellman didn’t have it. But instead of going to Edwin Diaz for the four out save, manager Mickey Callaway stayed with his reliever, who proceeded to give up a lead changing double to Geraldo Para.
If it wasn’t for Gomez, the Mets would have had a crushing loss.
All of this is fine and dandy when playing a team like the Nationals, which has imploded, but will it work on the West Coast next week, when the Mets go into Dodgers Stadium for four and then into Arizona for three?
You see what I mean.
But you have to give credit to general manager Brodie Van Wagenen, knowing the Mets have been a haven for injuries over the last few seasons and signed players like Davis and Gomez for depth and put them in Syracuse.
Now they are producing in Flushing.
But that card only can get played to a certain extent. Even with the players dropping like flies and Robinson Cano and Jeff McNeil going on the IL today, there’s just so much depth down there. Sure, you still have Gregor Blanco and Danny Espinosa up in Upstate New York, but there’s so much a team can take.
And that’s why the Mets claimed former Phillie Aaron Altherr off waivers from the Giants today. The Mets can’t afford to lose any more outfielder, especially now that Yoenis Cespedes is out for the season.
On a side note, who would have thought Juan Lagares would be the Mets healthiest outfielder?
Still the Mets have some hope here. They are still only four games behind the division leading Phillies and their starting pitching is looking solid, while the bullpen is starting to come around, despite Gsellman’s little episode today.
All of this means, the Mets will need to play smarter and Callaway’s seat may have cooled, but not enough to say he’s safe. Another losing streak or two and you may see Buck Showalter, Dusty Baker or Joe Girardi in Queens, unless one of them goes to Washington first.
Yet, the Mets need to enjoy this sweep. Even in the tank, the Mets needed to beat Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg this week.
Hopefully now they will have a good weekend too, because it’s back to the grind come Monday.
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