After 72 games, the Mets stand at 35-37, a whopping and fully expected 9.5 games behind the class of the division in Philadelphia, but a surprisingly few 4.5 behind in the race for the last playoff spot. Now, only the woeful Dodgers, Giants, Astros, Cubs, and Marlins sit behind the Mets in this race, so they would have to do the extraordinarily unlikely and leapfrog seven teams to make the postseason. But still, sitting where they are right now seems pretty acceptable and even encouraging.
When one considers that after the memorable loss to Houston-which prompted Fred Wilpon to add ridiculous and utterly inflammatory comments to his rather lengthy resume of negativity-the team stood at 5-13, a record of 30-24 over the last two months seems very noteworthy for this team.
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At this point, Johan Santana has played zero games, and of the team’s 72, David Wright has played 28 and Ike Davis 24. Chris Young looked great-in his four starts. Jason Bay now has his remarkable streak of plate appearances without a single extra base hit up to an amazing 100; indeed, wherever they are, Doug Flynn and Rey Ordonez are surely feeling much better about their slugging percentages right about now.
Aside from MVP Jose Reyes, surprise of the year Dillon Gee, and to an extent Carlos Beltran and Francisco Rodriguez, the Mets right now are a collection of question mark kids, has-beens, never-weres, castoffs, mediocrities, and injury-reclamation projects.
Yes, Carlos Beltran has been fairly productive; in the eyes of some fans a hero for returning to decency in his contract year. Yes, Francisco Rodriguez and his diminished fastball still are good enough to record a nice amount of saves. Yes, Pagan does seem to be recovering the form of a moderately productive starter. And Chris Capuano has definitely given all that could have been reasonably expected. The always enigmatic Mike Pelfrey remains, well, enigmatic, and Jon Niese remains a decent pitcher who someday might morph into a very good one. R.A. Dickey quickly returned to reality, while Pedro Beato did so even quicker, Bobby Parnell remains maybe the worst pitcher in history who can hit 100 on a radar gun, and the rest of the pen is very much a daily crapshoot.
Justin Turner and Ruben Tejada have been pleasant surprises who have cooled off significantly. Daniel Murphy remains a fan favorite whose offense never comes close to actually being what some fans believe it to be, and whose defense and smarts leave a lot to be desired. Thole? Duda? Harris? Pridie?
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The picture is one of a team which could have easily folded and begun mailing in the season, as the 2009 and 2010 teams eventually did. First was the horrid start, then the injuries to stalwarts Wright and Ike; and the media frenzy has been a ceaseless assault of tremendous proportions, in both size and exaggeration.
But this group appears to have a much more serious captain at the wheel, and Terry Collins should begin receiving the credit he deserves.
This writer thought giving Wally Backman a chance would have been bold. But Bob Melvin and 2010 country club caddy Chip Hale clearly were not the right choices. Collins is proving to be a fine leader; can a reasonable argument be made that he is not getting the most possible from this team, especially when considering the 5-13 start, the injuries to Wright and Ike, and the black hole in left field?
The best part of this team seems to be its fight. They don’t give up, and do usually fight to the last out. We are not watching 2010’s roster, which often seemed to be competing for quickest at bats and fewest pitches seen. The young players appear to be gaining confidence, and with the exception of the regressed but still decent overall Pelf, Collins really has gotten as much or more than expected out of just about everyone.
Thole and Duda might just not be that good and Murph might simply be a fine utilityman not meant to start; but what we have seen from Tejada, Turner, Gee and Niese alone speaks well to Collins’ ability to manage and motivate players. The performances of Beltran, Isringhausen, Capuano, and Buchholz also seem to show an ability to reinvigorate recovering injured veterans.
But still, other than Reyes and Gee, it is the team’s fight and overall vibe which are the most impressive facets of this team.
They are not giving up, even after seriously tough losses of games and players. Twice this team has come from 7-0 deficits to tie the game, winning one and losing the other. The thought here was not that this team, without Wright and Ike, would be on a regular battle for the .500 mark this far into the season. Most major publications and prognosticators predicted disaster.
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After the A’s series, the Mets embark on a seriously difficult stretch which will very possibly determine the direction their season will take. It gets and remains very difficult right up to the trading deadline of July 31. Should the team somehow manage to enter August at .500 or better, serious excitement would be warranted.
The issue of Jose Reyes’ future surely will become a bigger and bigger story as time goes on, but there is every reason to think that as the team adds Wright and Ike and Johan as the season progresses, and players like Murphy and either Turner or Tejada become backups, and one of the current starters moves to the pen, that the team’s everyday lineup as well as its depth will improve significantly.
Is a playoff spot a reasonable goal? Not yet. But should August 1 see that .500 record or better, and should none of the teams the Mets trail in the WC standings have taken an 8-10 game lead, the club will at the very least have serious hope.
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Regardless, Terry Collins has done an admirable job, and shown thus far that all of those second place finishes with less than stellar clubs in Houston and Anaheim may have in fact been largely due to his managerial skills.
The debate rages over some in-game decisions, but as time passes, this writer is inclined to think more and more that an extra bunt or a head-scratcher lineup decision here and there might be far less significant over the course of the 162-game marathon that is a baseball season than is the ability which Collins clearly has to motivate his players into coming to play and play hard every single day.
It is this skill of Collins’ which seems to be a huge ingredient in how this team has fought back from adversity off the field, injuries on it, a horrendous start, and a media only too joyous to continue to swarm like jackals to play 30-24 ball over the last two months with a pretty difficult schedule. Collins is clearly in charge, is very honest after both the great wins and the tough losses, has the players’ respect, and most importantly after recent years, has them prepared to play every day, regardless of how difficult the previous game was.
It says here that Terry Collins, his knowledge, his toughness, and his approach are largely responsible for this resurgence.
10 comments
stickguy
6/20/2011-7:43pm at 7:43 pm (UTC -4)
of course a playoff spot is a reasonable goal. Goals are something to strive for. Might not be a reasonable expectation, but it is a damn fine goal!
hazmet
6/20/2011-8:22pm at 8:22 pm (UTC -4)
Yes indeed Terry deserves some love. He’s done a fine job. I wasn’t big on the hire but I was won over by the way he ran camp, very thorough and clearly a baseball rat mentality….some might dare say they are playing…..wait for it….. gritty.
One of the big differences to me, which may be unfair to the ex-manager, ummm, what’s his name again, a philospher I believe Jerristotle I believe is that Terry manages with who he’s got and while he may have an eye on who he’s missing and when they may be coming back he’s not counting on them being back and he’s playing and getting the most out of what he has. With Jerry it was alway’s seemed to me to be “if we can hold the fort till this guy got back or that guy got back”. Jerry’s approach just led to a built in excuse where Terry’s all about playing ball that day with what he’s got.
Lastly, how refreshing would it be for Jason Bay to just for a couple of week resemble the Jason Bay of old and put the team on his back and carry them till Ike & David get back, hopefully. I know, I just built in an excuse, but could we at least get something out of him????
metsfan4decades
6/20/2011-8:28pm at 8:28 pm (UTC -4)
Excellent piece, Kingman.
I think these next 6 series are going to basically determine not only what this team is playing for in the second half but probably more importantly, who they’ll be playing with. Sandy himself commented yesterday much the same thing. He wouldn’t give any hard number though on where they had to be at to determine if they’ll basically be sellers or not.
Collins has to be given a good amount of credit for what they’ve done so far. Even though they’re under .500 right now – as opposed to being about 10 games over .500 at this time last year – this team just feels more successful. I know numbers don’t lie but for someone like myself who has watched just about every game, IMO this season so far has been more fun to watch.
I don’t take as much stock in a difficult stretch of games coming up as you do. So far I’ve watched them beat other teams aces, take series from better teams, tank against rookie or scrub pitchers and not have too much success against teams near or at the basement.
I have no idea what the next month will bring. But I’ll be watching hoping we at least stay in the race until late in the season.
metsfan4decades
6/20/2011-8:36pm at 8:36 pm (UTC -4)
Watching the Cyclones game tonight on SNY. It’s Angel Pagan bobble head night, I want one…..lol. They unveiled his number on the OF fence as well.
Pagan was in the booth for an inning. He had nothing but great things to say about Terry, his coaching staff and the entire team. Said the energy is completely different ‘from what it was’, they’re having fun, the chemistry is great and it’s just a great bunch of guys in the clubhouse. Seriously, anyone remember hearing anyone say this last year?
Brooklyn leading 4-0 after 5.
kingman 26
6/20/2011-8:44pm at 8:44 pm (UTC -4)
Thanks for the extremely appreciated and valued compliment on the piece MF4D!
As for last year? I remember myself saying that again and again and again; remember Wright’s comment to Bowa that everyone wanted to discount and which was 100% reality??….and TRS and Stick and Ceetar and many others repeatedly disagreeing.
Last year’s team was a lazy man’s paradise and the slacker attitude was contagious.
If Ike/Wright/Johan come back healthy and productive, this team can exceed expectations this year, and if Reyes stays and Gee is for real and KRod stays, maybe be ready to compete next year.
But now I want Collins to stay.
metsfan4decades
6/20/2011-9:19pm at 9:19 pm (UTC -4)
Looking back on last year – especially having this year to compare it to so far – it’s painfully obvious now how disjointed that whole team was. Poor communication, poor signals from leadership, clubhouse basically a mess.
That’s why I have to credence to a difference maker so far being Terry, especially after listening to Pagan in the booth tonight.
Oh, didn’t hurt that Perez and Castillo – two who so defined everything that was wrong with the team last year – are no longer here.
As you and other have pointed out, if we’re going to watch a non contending team, as least give us some of the kids who play with enthusiasm and have something to prove.
Brooklyn clinging to a 4-3 lead now in the bottom of the 7th.
hazmet
6/20/2011-8:57pm at 8:57 pm (UTC -4)
On chemistry, actually yes to last year. When they were cruising to 10 games over .500 and they were singing the praises of Frenchy and the difference he made in the clubhouse with taking some of the pressure of D. Wright. Then the chemistry turned south when Carlos came back, possibly too soon, and Jose got injured and the 10 games over evaporated and the chemistry with it.
But I do agree that this year the chemistry seems better even with them under .500. It’s easy to have chemistry when your winning, not so much when you’re say under .500 which is another indicator to the job Terry’s done. Or, it could be so many Bisons interwoven into the lineup brought that chemistry they had with them last year in AAA and with Terry roving the minors last year it carried over as they’ve had his back. Whatever it is let’s hope it’s not a half year aberation like last year.
gategem
6/21/2011-1:29am at 1:29 am (UTC -4)
I prefer to wait and see how the rest of the season plays out before I place Terry on a pedestal. Recall last year Jerry did not have a healthy and productive Reyes and Beltran and while he had Santana and at times a productive Pelfrey he had precious little else in the starting staff and the bullpen (both managers have K-Rod). Yet at the same juncture last year the Mets were 41 and 31 and we know how that season turned out. I just do not agree that a “balls to the walls” approach works as well in baseball as it does in football.
stickguy
6/21/2011-8:36am at 8:36 am (UTC -4)
well, at this point, he had had dickey pitching like Cy Young for a while, and of course Pelf had 1 huge month (as opposed to this year, with a couple good games!)
njstuckintx
6/21/2011-8:48am at 8:48 am (UTC -4)
Nice piece, as always.
I can’t get too high on praise on Terry yet. This is the same guy that got run out of town in Anaheim. And Jerry won a manager of the year, so to lavish praise on Terry due to a rag tag bunch being a little below .500 could be that he’s doing a good job, the new hitting coach is doing well, Old Uncle Warthen is proving to be worth something after all, or it could be we undervalued the kids in the minors & fringe players on this team that are playing for their proverbial jobs and are actually producing under that stress. Either way, I certainly would have thought this team would be much farther off with all the injuries and such. So, credit to Terry (I guess) for that.