But one thing that needs to be pointed out is that -- I mean, wow -- so many things have gone the Mets way this season. Almost all of the 'coin flips' heading into the season turned out in our favor, yet here we still are staring up at the Braves.
- Jose Reyes came back healthy. Not amazing out of the gate, but healthy. And contributing.
- Angel Pagan proved he could play every day.
- Carlos Beltran came back later than we had hoped, but here he is, pushing Francoeur out of the lineup.
- Wright's power returned.
- Santana's elbow is ok, and he's pitching great.
- Josh Thole and Jon Niese both are playing at the very very top end of what could have been projected for them at the start of the year.
- RA Dickey came out of nowhere to pitch like -- and it's time to say it -- a legitimate #2 starter or ace (thus far)
- Pelfrey has pitched more like 2008 than 2009.
- The Phillies have suffered a ton of injuries.
All of these things, have broken in our favor, yet here we are. Our ace and our perennial all-star third baseman have each overcome adversity. Our two other all-star position players have returned from various career-threatening injuries. What more could you ask for?
I'm not throwing in the towel yet, but it is hard, very hard, not to wonder if the Mets have already given their all and fallen short. Eventually, not all the breaks will go our way.
Could it be better? Well... we do have a pythagorean W-L record of 50-43, one game worse than our actual record entering tonight. We have an 11-16 record in one run games, which is to some degree affected by luck. But for the most part? No.
We've gotten our breaks, and here we are in second place. Maybe Dickey and Niese will continue to dominate the National League. Maybe Santana will continue to outperform his peripherals. Maybe Pelfrey will recapture his early season dominance. Maybe Reyes and Beltran will round into the form they showed in their peak seasons. Maybe we will continue to avoid major injury.
It's still early, and as a Mets fan, dreaming is in your DNA. But it's getting late pretty early.
1 comment:
I'm in no way throwing in the white towel yet! 6 1/2 games out of 1st, 3 1/2 behind Colorado for the wild card spot, the Mets can still get out of this "we suck since Beltran's come back" funk! I know the rest of this road trip blows, 4 games in LA (and they owe us some payback from our sweeping of them at Citi) but really the ny metropolitans can't be done fighting just yet. They owe STL some revenge next week and hopefully that won't mean another 20 inning game ugh. But yes no white flags yet! They are still a contender. A pathetically limp one at the moment but still there is no reason to give up just yet. I still think Bay will have a big 2nd half. Ok I realize my comments were all pretty decent until that last one...sheesh the mets.
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