Someone Else Again

The Mets had already broken out to a 2-0 lead before I realized the game had started on Wednesday afternoon, with both runs heavily involving Jose Reyes. Reyes hit Anthony DeSclafani's first pitch of the game into the seats for a Home Run (taking back his club record from Curtis Granderson) and in the 3rd, Reyes scored on a DeSclafani Wild Pitch.

So, last night, it was Yoenis Cespedes, today, it's Jose Reyes. Friday, it'll probably be someone else.

Noah Syndergaard was on the mound for the Mets and while he didn't exactly look his sharpest, less than sharp seems to be OK against the Reds. Irregardless, you'd like to see Syndergaard really stomp on a team like this, but then again, if he's going out there with something less than his best and still manages to throw 5 shutout innings, it's OK. Against the Reds, in front of a lukewarm, miniscule crowd that maybe thought they were showing up early for the Bengals game, we'll take it.

Later, Curtis Granderson homered and Wilmer Flores came off the bench and homered, which was good because Gabriel Ynoa came in for the 8th and nearly torched the game by loading the bases without recording an out, and requiring Addison Reed to bail him out (and Reed nearly serving up a game-tying Grand Slam to Jose Peraza), but the Reds got no closer than 5-3. The Mets tacked on a 9th inning run and Jeurys Familia finished out this 6-3 Mets win, finishing out a season sweep of the Reds for the 2nd year in a row.

This was how the Mets were winning games last year at this time, by getting contributions, and meaningful contributions, from everyone they put out there and this recent resurgence to draw themselves within half a game of the second Wildcard (and, I believe a game and a half of the 1st Wildcard) which, you know, was a pipedream about three weeks ago. But 14 wins in 18 games have brought the Mets all the way back to this point. Ostensibly, there's now 3 teams for 2 spots in the NL Playoffs, and with 22 games remaining, the Mets, in spite of their patchwork roster that now numbers 37 players, somehow have the inside track just based on their schedule. Of course, we know from prior years that the Pennant Race is an odd bird that can turn on you real quick. Especially when you have to go to Atlanta, where the Mets have turned losing key September games into an art form, and then Washington, who I'm sure would love to fuck up the Mets mojo. So, yeah, You can say easy schedule, but the Mets still have to go out and win these games.

It becomes infinitely easier when everyone is capable of making a meaningful contribution.