There are many wonderful elements about spring training — even when it is held in Port St. Lucie — and among the best is the optimism at that time of year.
February and March are for rosy possibilities. History and logic are flushed in exchange for hopefulness and the best-case scenario.
Teams survey their best players and envision greatness. In the Pirates’ clubhouse, for example, you could see Andrew McCutchen and, well, and really no one else. But the Mets are not like that. Their clubhouse has stars; fewer than the galaxy in The Bronx and something way more than the Pirates.
Yet it wasn’t really until the last week that those stars began playing en masse in a way to honor the dreams of spring. In concert, the bats of Jose Reyes, Jason Bay and David Wright enlivened. Johan Santana shut down the Yankees once and Francisco Rodriguez did so twice. The stars aligned, and the Mets won series against both competitors from last year’s World Series — and suddenly the grandest possibilities of spring seemed possible again.
“We went 5-1 against the two teams that went to the World Series, and it was a good 5-1,” Jeff Francoeur said. “We won pretty convincingly.”
They all but humiliated the Phillies, sweeping three games and not permitting a run. The final last night was 3-0 as Reyes had three hits, including a two-run double, and Bay drove in Reyes for the other run.
“All season our complementary guys have played really well,” said Mets assistant GM John Ricco. “But it still didn’t look great because our big guys weren’t doing what they were supposed to be doing.”
The Mets chorus has indeed been productive, something that was not true in recent seasons and damaged the team. Rod Barajas leads major league catchers with 10 homers. R.A. Dickey and Hisanori Takahashi won more games this week against Philly (2) than John Maine and Oliver Perez won overall (1) in 16 starts. Ike Davis brought energy and a needed lefty bat with him to the majors.
Last night, Henry Blanco threw out two baserunners. Angel Pagan had two more hits, a stolen base and an excellent sprawling catch as he continued to make Carlos Beltran’s absence more tolerable. And durable, dependable Pedro Feliciano delivered a scoreless eighth.
But the most interesting chorus member is Mike Pelfrey because he just might not be a chorus member any longer. He might, in fact, be an All-Star. He improved to 7-1 with a 2.54 ERA after blanking the Phillies for seven innings. He again used a full arsenal with splits, curves and sliders, and used his trademark sink to record 19 of his 21 outs either in the infield or with strikeouts.
“I thought he was overmatching a good-hitting club,” Jerry Manuel said.
Even in the headiest moments of spring, no one could have imagined the Mets shutting out these good-hitting Phils for three straight games — let alone with the heavy lifting coming from Dickey, Takahashi and Pelfrey.
“It is the most amazing series I have ever been part of,” Francoeur said.
It actually had a touch of the Amazin’. For the only other time in Mets history that they had shut out one opponent in an entire series came to close the Miracle season of 1969. The opponent was again the Phillies, but the pitchers were full of pedigree. Jerry Koosman and Tom Seaver threw complete-game shutouts, and Gary Gentry started the finale and got relief help from, among others, Nolan Ryan.
It was just a little more than a week ago that these Mets were drawing comparisons to the ugly past three years, so injecting 1969 into the conversation shows just how much the Mets have changed the subject.
“The confidence level rises in the clubhouse and you feel you can do some things,” Manuel said about what the last week has meant.
Like in the best-laid plans of spring, the stars have shined. The chorus has hit high notes. And in a bridge between those two sects, Mike Pelfrey appears to be migrating toward something special — and is taking the Mets with him.