Mets can look to rival Braves as reason for optimism
Buck Showalter notes quite often that when your team is enduring problems, the season neither stops while you work through them nor do opponents offer a sliver of sympathy.
The withering churn is both a challenge and a charm of the long season. Trouble is forever hovering over 162 games and if the Mets needed faith to have a Brave outlook through an early-season rotation crisis, there is Atlanta to be both tormentor, but also role model.
On June 16, 2021, the Braves fell to 30-35, eight games behind the Mets. Three weeks later they lost the NL MVP front-runner, Ronald Acuna Jr., for the season at about the same time the Mets lost Jacob deGrom. The Braves rallied to win not just the NL East, but their first championship since 1995.
On June 1, 2022, the Braves fell to 24-27, 10¹/₂ games behind the Mets. Less than two weeks later they lost their valuable second baseman, Ozzie Albies, for two months to a fractured foot. The Mets got deGrom back down the stretch, yet the Braves tracked them down to win the division for a fifth straight year.
This season the Braves have jolted out front, building a three-game lead on the Mets, in part by taking two of three at Citi Field. Atlanta started its three best — Max Fried, Spencer Strider and Charlie Morton. The Mets — even with the benefit of two rainouts — responded with the since demoted David Peterson, the since demoted Denyi Reyes and Tylor Megill.
Their split of a doubleheader Monday should serve as impetus for what sets up as a promising two weeks ahead for the Mets. They lost the opener Monday 9-8 after Reyes permitted five runs without recording an out in the second inning. But they put strong at-bats on the terrific Strider and Brett Baty had the first of two strong games at the plate, which included his first-ever homer off a lefty in the first game.
Max Scherzer is set to return from this 10-game sticky-stuff ban this week. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
In the nightcap, Baty’s rookie sidekick, Francisco Alvarez registered his biggest hit to date, a tie-breaking two-run double in the sixth inning. And Drew Smith and David Robertson combined for 3 ²/₃ shutout innings of relief to seal a 5-3 triumph.
It sets the Mets off to a 13-game stretch against the Tigers, Rockies, Reds and Nationals, who had four of the majors’ nine worst records and were a combined 41-70 going into Monday. And the Mets this week in Detroit are scheduled to get Max Scherzer back Wednesday, Justin Verlander on Thursday and Showalter was growing optimistic that Carlos Carrasco will return next week.
The Mets did not bury themselves in the first month-plus, going 16-13 with Showalter saying he hopes the next week “brings traction. We have been looking for that.”
Brandon Nimmo said, “The overall feeling is optimism because when they are right, Max is a Cy Young winner and Justin was the Cy Young winner last year and so we know how good they can be. I like where we are heading. And to be quite honest, we started off really hot the past two years and things dwindled toward the end. I’m interested in how this will play out.”
Showalter has been balancing the try to win now without blowing especially his bullpen while having to use those projected to be starters No. 6 (Peterson), No. 7 (Megill) and No. 8 (Joey Lucchesi). He was hoping for three innings from Reyes in a bullpen first game Monday and got three outs instead. That the Mets fought back against Strider still did not move Showalter to use any of his big three (Smith, Adam Ottavino or Robertson) while trailing.
And even in the nightcap, he let Megill face Eddie Rosario with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth with a 2-0 lead and Smith ready in the pen. Rosario drilled a tying three-run double, but Showalter didn’t second-guess himself, saying, “If you don’t let some guys try to get through things now, you will blow out your bullpen before June.”
The Braves celebrate during their Game 1 win over the Mets on Monday. USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con
Francisco Alvarez’s clutch hitting gives the Mets some hope for solidification in the lineup. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
Alvarez’s hit in the bottom of the inning broke the tie. And with Robertson having not pitched since Thursday and Showalter wanting to have Ottavino available Tuesday in Detroit, the manager had Robertson deliver just his fourth two-inning save of his career and second since 2017.
The hope is some of the pitching gymnastics can end this week and that Baty and Alvarez are now ready to fortify and lengthen the lineup. The Mets know they are probably not getting Edwin Diaz back this year and who knows with Jose Quintana? But can Scherzer and Verlander return to being innings-eating dominators and Carrasco a strong back-end presence?
If so, maybe as this season transpires, it is the Mets who could put on a Brave face.
Source: New York Post
