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Back in April I posted that the Mets then sported the best record in the Majors, but added the question, "Can we stop the season now?" The reason for this bit of facetiousness was my observation, back in 2008, that the Mets have the "ability to raise hopes, then smash them like cheap china." Long time readers of this blog may recognize a recurrent theme here.
It seemed things were going that way again this year. On August 5 Will Sammon of the New York Times noted that they had a "prolonged stretch of mediocrity" since June, with a record over that time of 27-28. He pointed to the Mets' weakness in all aspects of the game: pitching (both starters and bullpen), hitting, and fielding. Meanwhile their divisional rivals the Phillies went on a tear, holding as much as a seven game lead in the NL East. That was until this week, when the Mets swept a three game series with the Phils, reducing their deficit to four games.
Today Sammon wrote that the Mets are "clicking again" He attributes this in part to the performance of rookie pitcher Nolan McLean (photo: D. Benjamin Miller, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons) who baffled Phillies batters to seal the series sweep yesterday. Since being called up, McLean has started and won three games, and has an ERA of 0.89. Sammon also noted that Mets batters are hitting again.
It seems then that the answer to the question I posted in the caption is, "Yes." At least it is for the moment, but I can't discount the possibility of a derailment. They have a challenging schedule for the remaining season: three games with the Tigers (78-57 as of now) next week; a four game series with the Phillies, which could be their make-or-break, September 8-11; three with the Padres (now 75-59) September 16-18; and three with the Cubs (now 76-57) September 23-25. Injuries, which seem to be a persistent problem for the Mets (I speculated why here), are always a worry. Still, I'm feeling better about our chances now.
