You can never outguess baseball.
Last time we saw the Mets, they were getting walked off in excruciating fashion by the Padres, a wrenching reversal that denied them a series win and an off-day on which to exhale. Next up: the other National League team threatening to run away and hide in the wild-card race. The Diamondbacks’ August has been like our June, a 24-6 run of walk-on-water baseball that leaves you thinking anything is possible.
But it’s also true that momentum is tomorrow’s starting pitcher, and fortunately Sean Manaea [1] has been a force of nature since the break. He mowed down D-back after D-back, and meanwhile the Mets were all over Brandon Pfaadt [2]: Pete Alonso [3] homered early (tying Mike Piazza [4] in the all-time ranks) and he and his teammates took full advantage of a nightmarish game for Arizona shortstop Geraldo Perdomo [5], whose glove turned to stone in a fifth inning that saw 12 Mets come to the plate and six runs score.
That was more than enough for Manaea, who shook off a little bother in the seventh and handed things over to the bullpen, which held the line this time as the Mets walked away with a relatively easy win [6].
I thought Greg summed up this team perfectly [7] after the San Diego debacle — so many ups and downs, a lot of entertainment delivered in ways expected and decidedly not, but weighing all this you get the feeling they’re seventh-best in a six-team field. And yet, to quote Joaquin Andujar [8]‘s favorite word, youneverknow. They have 30 games to make up three and hey, we’ve taken late-season body blows [9] from Padres before and had things turn out OK.
With 30 games left in the season, a new enemy enters the ring: time. Losses become excruciating not just for their effect on the standings but also because they’re a day off the calendar; wins that don’t get you closer to your prey feel empty and frustrating. But the calendar will do what the calendar does; the Mets can only take them one game at a time. That’s a cliche, but it’s a cliche for a reason — a formula designed to offer comfort amid the drip-drip-drip of opportunities diminishing. One game at a time: Tonight it worked out, tomorrow awaits, and on we’ll go until there are no tomorrows and a verdict is rendered.