Brief Excitement

Generally, any time the Mets can sweep a series on the West Coast, it's cause for some degree of excitement because as a general rule, these West Coast games are just a difficult proposition. Whether it's games that start at an excessively late hour, or are played under that blazing California sunshine, or the Woody Allen chronic California sickness, the Mets just have a hard time out there. But, at least for three days, the Mets overcame it all and swept the Giants, finishing the weekend off with an 8-2 victory behind, of all people, Rafael Montero.

This was another one of those games that I only saw briefly, and by briefly, I mean out of the corner of my eye at a restaurant during the late innings. If there wasn't enough strange about a West Coast game, this series of course finished off with a 4pm Sunday start time, which can often drag out into the evening hour and as such, this game crept on close to 8pm, clocking in at a creaky 3 hours and 44 minutes.

It was already late in the game when I "saw" what was going on, and the Mets had already built a sizeable lead thanks to a pair of Home Runs from Rene Rivera, off of Matt Moore. Rafael Montero, who I believe was probably the leading cause of the length of this game, was gone, departed after making his way through 5.2 innings that were good, though I feel like they were more a product of the quality of the opponent as opposed to him actually turning the mythical corner that he's probably not capable of turning. But nonetheless he made it through those 5.2 innings allowing just one run over 104 pitches, and the offensive backing was enough to net him his first win in the Majors since 2014.

I can't get too particularly excited over this outing from Montero because, well, the Mets were playing a team that's just caved in on itself. The Mets could be accused of looking the same at many moments this season. It's probably the same reason that I can't get too excited over the Mets sweeping the Giants and "picking up some ground" on the teams they're trailing in whatever meaningful race there is here. It seems like a bit of too little, too late as far as saving the season and what's further is I can't say that we're getting any particular glimpses of the future, because it seems like those guys we're waiting on aren't even on the roster as yet. Perhaps, I guess, this is OK because if nothing else impending Free Agents playing well become more attractive to those teams that are contending and make them more likely to hand over young, cheap, talented players come the end of July. It's something worth considering.

Magicians

I'm not quite certain that the Mets did anything, over a majority of the game last night, that would have made them deserving of a win, but somehow they did win. In one of those games that would have had Bob Murphy exclaim "They Win the Damn Thing!", they nursed Noah Syndergaard through 5.2 innings, they survived a seemingly rejuvenated GOLDEN JAKE, they grabbed a late lead thanks to a replay challenge and a 2-out hit by Rene Rivera, and then closed it out when Jeurys Familia somehow managed to escape a bases loaded, no-out jam, inducing a game-ending Double Play from Baseball Jesus to finish off a harrowing 2-1 victory.

Really, this seemed to be nothing but a gloom and doom game from the get-go. Syndergaard, whose arm I suppose may fall off at any second, kind of weaved his way in and out of trouble throughout the early part of the game. He allowed a run kind of by accident, when in the 3rd inning Willson Contreras, who's got a little bit of Marlins Spirit in him, doubled, went to 3rd on a Wild Pitch that Rene Rivera couldn't corral, and then scored when Rivera made an ill-advised desperation heave into Left Field. I mean, if that's not a Marlin-style run, what is?

Meanwhile, the Mets were doing nothing against GOLDEN JAKE, which I suppose is to be expected from him. GOLDEN JAKE even attempted to widen his own lead in the 4th when he doubled with 2 outs and tried to score on a Tommy LaStella single. In fact, according to Home Plate Umpire Eric Cooper, he did score, much to my chagrin, except for the rather obvious tag that Rivera got on him before he actually touched the plate. Replay, reversal, score remains 1-0.

And then it was tied, somehow, in the 6th, when Jose Reyes turned the clock back to 2006 and hit a triple, which is something we used to see with regularity in another time and place, and then scored on a Curtis Granderson sacrifice fly.

So Syndergaard was done in the 6th and GOLDEN JAKE got through 7, and you figured it was just a matter of time before something dumb happened and, well, while plenty of dumb things did happen, it somehow didn't manage to sink the Mets. Jerry Blevins finished the 6th and Hansel Robles worked a clean 7th and then an 8th for good measure, and so the game remained tied going to the 9th.

The Cubs went to their closer, Hector Rondon, another guy who looks like he'd fit in well as a Marlin, and the Mets mounted an excruciatingly slow rally. James Loney led off with a single, but Neil Walker grounded into a Double Play, except he didn't because he beat the throw to 1st and Umpire Ratso McGillicuddy blew the call. Replay, reversal, Mets have 1 on and 1 out. Cabrera follows with a single to bring up Michael Conforto, who has quietly returned to the lineup but still appears to be pressing. In a key spot, a hit here would have been enormous, symbolically, but Conforto appeared overanxious and struck out. This wasn't good BUT OH RENE RIVERA GOT A HIT TO DRIVE IN THE LEAD RUN! Somehow the Mets didn't screw it up!

To the bottom of the 9th and Jeurys Familia, who quickly got ahead of Addison Russell, didn't get a call and subsequently lost the plate, not finding it until he not only walked Russell, but Miguel Montero behind him, sending Cubs fans into a tizzy. Javier Baez followed by laying down a bunt that was obviously going foul except that Jose Reyes decided to field it and make a throw to 1st not especially close to getting Baez. So, bases loaded, no outs, Cubs fans peeing themselves over in glee and, of course, Matt Szczur coming up, and if you figured there was one guy ripe to spoil Familia's Save streak and drive a 2-run double into the Right Field corner, it's Szczur. And Syzygy did pull the ball, but right to Loney, who threw home for the out. No matter. Up came the Baseball Jesus himself, and again, there were visions of him hitting one to Waukegan and Cubs fans uniting for a giant collective orgasm. Except that Bryant slapped a shot right to Reyes, who started the 5-4-3 DP and somehow, the Mets escaped imminent disaster. Twice. Three times if you figure they had to face GOLDEN JAKE.

So it goes. The Mets alternately look awful and lose, or look great and win, and sometimes they manage to do both at the same time, like tonight. They didn't especially look like they were going to win this game most of the night, but somehow they did and at this point I'll take wins however I can get them.

The Echo Chamber

Most games played in that puke-green hell hole known more colloquially as Mickey Mouse Taxpayer Fraud Marlins Park tend to sound, to those watching on TV or listening on radio, as though they were being played in an airplane hanger. It's not because the stadium's roof is usually closed to protect the people of Miami from their normal Summertime temperatures of 89˚ with 142% humidity and a rogue late-day torrential downpour. It's because there's nobody in the stadium. So sounds just carry and echo and everything sounds weird. I feel the need to point this out every time the Mets go to Miami, just because I feel it's my duty as a Mets fan to clown the Marlins and remind everyone what a joke of a franchise they are.

When the Mets come to town, there's usually a spike in attendance. South Florida is full of transplanted New Yorkers that root for the Mets, and so, you know, they're a draw. Add Noah Syndergaard to the mix and perhaps it felt like a sellout on Friday night, with a robust crowd of 22,269 on hand. The Marlins, as we all know, only have about 4 fans, and really, if you're a Marlins fan and you stuck by this team, I'm not sure whether you deserve a Purple Heart or a kick in the head for all the crap that you continually have to endure. Remember, this is a team that's so obsessed with image over substance that they purposely hired Celebrity Manager and Celebrity Hitting Coach as a cheap ploy to try and be relevant.

All that being said, strange things tend to happen to the Mets when they go to Florida, and it's usually not good. It was already odd enough that the calendar had already turned to June and the Mets were making their first trip of the season to Wonderwheel Park. Then, there was the news that David Wright was headed to the DL for an undetermined period of time. I can't really say that this is a bad thing, though, considering that Wright's been a walking strikeout for the majority of the season and really a shell of what he once was. The real problem is that the Mets have really been decimated by injuries, to the point where Neil Walker was in the cleanup spot and guys like James Loney and Rene Rivera were now heavily involved in the picture. This kind of gave the proceedings an ominous overtone, but after looking mostly sluggish against the Dodgers and White Sox, the Mets woke up, hit 3 Home Runs and beat the Marlins 6-2.

Syndergaard, after his brief cameo on Tuesday, pitched his normal compliment of 7 innings, allowing 2 runs on 6 hits and striking out 9, and then later revealing he didn't have his best stuff and really had to battle his way through a few innings. Fortunately, the Mets were able to plate a couple of runs off of Tom Koehler, and in the 7th inning, James Loney had his official "WELCOME TO NEW YORK" moment when he hit his first Home Run as a Met, a 2-run shot off of Mike Dunn (duh YANKEE PROSPECT) that put the Mets ahead for good. In the 9th inning, Rene Rivera hit a Home Run of his own to give the Mets some breathing room.

So, in spite of all that's gone on, the Mets still manage to piece these things together and get contributions from these irregular guys. I don't know how long this is going to last, but the more you can cobble these things together, the better a situation you'll be in when the regular guys do get back. Whenever that is.

Creeping Upward

Figures that Tuesday night, the night I went, was the hiccup for the Mets.

Wednesday afternoon, the Mets shook off the doledrums of Tuesday's debacle of a game. Though the weather conditions were similar, the Mets went out and bombarded the Braves good and proper, hitting 4 Home Runs in support of Steven Matz, who turned in a sterling 7.2 inning effort as the Mets won the series finale 8-0.

As is usually the case with these afternoon games, I'm in the office and therefore can only sporadically keep up with the proceedings. The game had already started by time I remembered that there was a game, and of course when you're watching on MLB.com's Gamecast there's a limit to what you can grok, but really all you need to know is the score and who's winning. On days like this, I have to just check the score in between tasks, so what I saw was the number on the Mets side creep up from 0, to 2, to 6, and then 8, while the Braves stagnated at 0.

It helped that Matz was pitching like a metronome. It was sort of the anti-Harvey performance. After his initial mess, Matz has been nothing short of brilliant in his subsequent outings and really, against the Braves' lineup, this was a case of simply smashing the flea with a sledgehammer. Matz worked quickly, walked nobody, allowed 2 hits and struck out 8, which is just the sort of outing he should have vs. Atlanta.

Matz was backed by a quartet of Home Runs, all of which came off of Jhoulys Chacin, who generally doesn't allow Home Runs, except that today the Mets just had his number. Rene Rivera, who's sort of filling the Taylor Teagarden role here, belted his first as a Met in the 2nd inning. In the 3rd, Asdrubal Cabrera connected, and then Lucas Duda connected, and later on Duda connected again for a second. By the end of the 5th, there wasn't much more to be said on this end, which is just fine considering that coming into the game, the Mets hadn't scored since the 1st inning on Monday. Sometimes, the minimum necessary works. Other times, it's just good to remind everyone who's in charge here. In this series, the Mets did a little bit of both.

So, the Mets are now done with this easy-ish part of the schedule. Now comes a nice challenge: 11 games in 11 days on the West Coast, and that involves 4 games each in San Diego and Los Angeles. Then, there's 3 games in Colorado, where they either win games 14-9 or lose in 15 innings. Get your coffeemakers out, because there's some late nights coming up. The Mets won't see a division opponent for two weeks, when our friends from Washington come to town.