The Mets did themselves — and their manager — some good by taking two of three against the Yankees over the weekend. Now, they have to sustain that against their most important rivals.
“We need to focus, starting now, on Philadelphia,” David Wright said after Sunday’s win over the Yanks, quickly changing gears. “That’s who we’re chasing.”
That chase continues tonight at Citi Field, where the Mets (22-23) will start the night in last place, chasing everyone in the NL East, five games behind the first-place Phillies (26-17).
But Wright and his teammates know that they have to have their sights set on the Phillies.
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“They’re one of the National League’s finest,” Wright said. “We understand that to accomplish what we want, we have to go through Philadelphia.”
And as if there wasn’t enough history between the two teams of late, this series will be the first one since Charlie Manuel insinuated that the Mets might be stealing signs because of their record at home (16-9) compared to on the road (6-14), although the Mets are no better offensively at Citi Field than elsewhere.
Manuel’s comments came after the Phillies were reprimanded by baseball for having a coach allegedly use binoculars to spy on opposing catchers behind the plate. The Rockies filed a formal complaint, as the Mets did three years ago.
Heading into this series, though, the players downplayed any added animosity between the clubs because of the allegations.
“Whatever people are saying, you only have to do one thing: change signs,” Francisco Rodriguez said. “You’ve gotta be smart. It’s not a secret. You try to mix it up.”
When asked if he considered the maneuver cheating, Rodriguez said: “It’s somewhere in between. Some people say it’s smart, some people call it cheating. As long as I do my job, I couldn’t care less.”
The closer added that the possibility that it does happen won’t change the way he approaches the game.
“When I’m out there trying to make pitches, I’m not thinking about a guy in center field in the stands giving signs to the hitter,” Rodriguez said. “If you do that on the mound, basically, you’re gonna be screwed. You’ve gotta let it go and beat them. That’s it.”
Most of his teammates agreed, choosing to focus on the Phillies’ place in the standings than any possibly tactics they used to get there.
“I don’t think we pay attention to it,” Wright said. “They’re good enough that they don’t need to do anything out of the normalcy of a baseball game. And it’s a big enough rivalry, a divisional foe, that with the intensity of the last few years, it’s about as amped up as it can go.”
If the Mets can get their act together with any type of consistency, Wright could be proven wrong.
“We know how much focus is on these two series,” Jason Bay said, referring to facing the Yanks and Phillies back-to-back. “You had to like the way we responded in this one against the Yankees.”
And the Mets are in the right place to continue their winning ways.
“These are three important games coming up,” Wright said. “With how poorly we played on the road, to still be where we’re at, I think is very fortunate. We’re gonna have to play well if we want these games to continue meaning something.”