Last week Jayson Stark wrote this article where he talks about teams that were off to cold starts (and some off to hot starts). At the time the Mets were 6-9 and last in the NL East. He mentions a scout in the article who states that baseball needs the Mets to be good so that rivalry against the Phillies mean something. Well about week later the Mets are in first place and are facing Philly in a series that will determine first place in the division (as much as a series at the start of May can do that).
The scout brings up some points but I want to flip one of the points. Stark talks about how the only people that are talking about the Mets being good are the Mets. I am so glad to hear that. This relays right back to that chemistry on the team. Looking back on this past homestand the Mets have played like they believed they were meant to win all of those games. The results have been great. A champion style attitude really reflects on how a team puts together a game plan and how that team implements it over all 9 innings. The starters have all turned it around and although they haven't really gone too deep in games yet, they are starting to keep the Mets in games.
Although as fans we would probably perfer the bats to score early and often, the fact that they keep surfacing late in games shows fight. This was true during the losing part of the season as well. the Mets were keeping games close with offense that would kick, scratch and fight back trying to get on top. In the last few games, the bats have started to a little earlier while taking advantage of opponents miscues. These small demoralizing actions against opponents leads to the current winning streak.
At this point of the season the Mets haven't proved themselves yet as good. But they also have shown that they aren't bad either (which is what the media was saying before this week). They have potential to go either way. At the end of the day, they are an exciting team to watch because of their attitude and chemistry. They look like they are having fun out there and at the same time, they look like they are doing their business, just going to work. This weekend will be important for the Mets, but in no way will it be the end all be all conclusion of what type of team the Mets are.*
* This point is important to make,but not to Mets fans. Mets fans, and probably most fans for the most part understand how long Baseball is, and how to April/May in perspective. The National Media coverage tends to gravitate to extremes, saying how starts show a team is really good or terrible. Which makes sense, its the media and that is their job, right?
