Prior to the All-Star break, it was most every Met except Jeff McNeil powering the Mets into playoff contention. Directly after the midsummer pause, it was mostly Jeff McNeil attempting to restart the Mets’ engine.
Things work better with more than one player revving us up, apparently.
We can certainly celebrate indications that Jeff McNeil’s ability to hit the ball and hit it with power are back, having returned in tandem with the season’s so-called second half. Three hits and two home runs attest to the Squirrel’s offensive capabilities being alive and well and spending the weekend in South Florida. A couple of nice catches in right indicate intermittently superb fielding remains another McNeil tool. There was a throwing error, but let it not overshadow the versatility we are occasionally reminded Jeff brings to the table when a manager decides to let him show it. We already know he can run. What we want to know is how far he can run from his .622 OPS.
McNeil’s out of the blocks in fine fettle. The rest of his team got kind of stuck in the mud at the sponsored facility that houses the Miami Marlins. The Fish swam by the Mets, 6-4, on Friday in a game that did not satisfy the yearning any Mets fan had to see baseball again following too many days off. Marlin home games, ever since they drained their port of call of its personality, inevitably bore from an aesthetic standpoint. Toss in the Mets trailing early and continuously (and my personal need for a nap that spanned the seventh and eighth innings), and it wasn’t quite the picking up where we left off we would have planned. Of course, we left off last Sunday with a loss, but it didn’t diminish the era of OMG feeling we carried into the break. A couple more like the non-McNeil portion of Friday, however, will have an impact, and not for the best where our interests are concerned..
By some miracle, we’ve come to view the 2024 Mets as this incredibly fun enterprise that has surprised and delighted us for about a month-and-a-half. I’ve rooted for several Mets teams whose best days unfolded in the middle of their campaigns. Started not so great. Ended not so brilliantly. But my gosh, the chewy center was delicious. They don’t hang banners for those campaigns. Whatever happens this year, I’ll remember it. That’s what I do. However many other Mets fans will be able to distinguish 2024 from its surrounding seasons will probably depend on whether this season’s center holds.
I’m moved in purely non-political terms to think of an answer President Biden gave at his post-NATO summit press conference when he was asked about his legacy. “Look,” he said, “I’m not in this for my legacy. I’m in this to complete the job I started.” Different campaign context, but a single season’s baseball team doesn’t usually leave behind an easily recognized legacy without winning something extraordinary (or losing like crazy). Remember that year the Mets were really good in June and half of July? We were really into it, and there was a new meme we all latched onto pretty much every week to celebrate it while it was going on…no? Oh c’mon you HAVE to remember!”
Or maybe you don’t. Winning something extraordinary will help jog your memory. But that’s for later. The 2024 Mets aren’t in this for their legacy at the moment. At 49-47 and in a virtual tie for the third Wild Card, the job does go on.
I am not a baseball player, but I’d love to know why, then the Marlins hit a sac fly to left, Nimmo dogged it to the ball and didn’t even TRY to make a strong throw to the plate. I thought professional players gave 100% all the time? Nimmo makes the calc that there’s no way he can throw the runner out, so why even try? Maybe the runner falls down. Maybe he trips. Maybe he’s slow. Don’t you need to fire that ball back as quickly as possible? You need 100%, because you just never know…
McNeil getting hot would make a difference, especially as Mets who’ve been hot cool off. I just hope the 2 HRs don’t mean he’ll be hunting HRs. That hasn’t worked well for him before.
The 2024 Mets are a very streaky team that has looked like one of the best teams for stretches, as good a contender as any division leader, and like one of the worst teams for stretches. They just lost back-to-back games to the two worst teams in the NL.
I hope the Mets stabilize, steadily grow their lead in the wildcard race, and convince Stearns and Cohen to buy in 10 days.
But at this point, I expect the roller coaster to continue. A very streaky team that’s nonetheless in the thick of the play-off race is better off neither buying nor selling, at least not anything costly either way. Maton-type moves are okay. Otherwise look to improve from within the organization. Repurpose some AAA starters as bullpen help. Don’t forget Baty’s lefty bat. Just look for enough ups to outweigh the downs enough to get into the playoffs, and then a hot streak in the post-season to win the championship.
It’s time for Alonso to kick it into gear.