I’m still watching, but it’s been brutally painful. You’d think after last year’s 10-41 streak that nothing the Mets could do this year would be as hurtful. But losing 7 games in a row when you had the lead late in the game is a bitch. I’ve got the Sunday night game on right now, which the Mets led 3-2 until the Braves tied it in the 6th, then quickly went up 5-3 in the 7th. Should the Braves prevail, it’ll be 8 in a row where the Mets coughed up a lead.
On the plus side this season, I love watching Jeff McNeil play this game. I loved him when he came up last year–I’m proud to say that I called it when I saw him hit–and he’s been even better this year. He was rewarded with a selection to the All Star game, and as I type, he just hit a 2-out, 2-RBI go ahead single to right. He leads the NL in batting average.
The biggest surprise has been Pete Alonso, who was talked about quite a bit last year as a burgeoning prospect, but he’s been beyond exceeding expectations. I can’t recall someone hitting the ball this hard. His defense is much better than expected and he seems like a good kid. I’m happy to see him settle into the big leagues and find his way to the Home Run Derby. He just hit a 2-out, 2-RBI double to right to allow the Mets to regain their lost lead and give Edwin Diaz a little breathing room to try to close this game out and stop the bleeding.
What will happen in the second half to this under-performing team? I hate to think the season is over already, but they’ve got to defunkify themselves and go on some kind of a serious tear to get into contention.
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