Well, the Mets hit a New York-sized pothole last night, that’s for sure, but their 8-2 defeat to the Braves in Queens shouldn’t obscure the steps the club has taken toward relevance.
When the days are as dark as they’ve been for so much of the past five seasons, it’s difficult to hail baby steps as a breakthrough.
But winning, never mind contending, is a process. And that’s what the Mets are undertaking these days in winning 19 of their last 34 after being left for dead in the middle of June.
There are years in sports that become shortcut references to eras, such as 1965, the gateway between dynasty and a famine, for the Yankees.
But if 1965 is an accepted historical reference point, 1967 deserves our attention as it applies to the Mets, the year the team started to turn the corner on the corner on their way to attaining mythical and miracle status two years later.
No Yankees team would ever invite association with 1965. But it does not damn the 2013 Mets to turn back the pages of the franchise’s history to a year when, for the first time, glimmers of hope shined through a half decade of darkness.
If the answer to the baseball SAT question ever becomes, “1967 is to 1969 as 2013 is to 2015,” well, what Mets fan wouldn’t sign up for that right now?
Bud Harrelson was the shortstop. Cleon Jones played a lot of center field that season. Ed Kranepool was at first base and Ed Charles was at third. Ron Swoboda played right field and Jerry Grote was behind the plate.
Rookie right-hander Tom Seaver was the anchor of the pitching staff that included Don Cardwell. Before the season would end, Jerry Koosman would make a cameo appearance.
Let’s fast-forward. These Mets are thinner in position players but deeper in young major league arms than their ancestors, who, of course, did have people like Nolan Ryan and Gary Gentry in the pipeline.
Seaver earned the designation as “The Franchise” not so much for the 198 victories he recorded in a Mets uniform, but because of his role in transforming the team into champions. He was more than a strong arm. He was the team’s heartbeat; the ultimate building block.
Hello, Matt Harvey.
“Being a building block is something you really don’t think about,” Harvey told The Post before it all came apart for brother-in-arms Jeremy Hefner for the second straight start. “I’m in my first full season, so my focus is all on learning as much as I can and improving from start to start.
“Hopefully I can lead the pitching staff by example, but my thing is to follow what David [Wright] does. I follow David as a leader and as a captain,” said the 24-year-old, who will start the night portion of tomorrow’s doubleheader in D.C. against the Nationals. “I pay attention to the way David carries himself on and off the field.
“He sets an example that I hopefully can learn from.”
If Harvey and Zack Wheeler, who goes today against the Braves, can become a latter day version of Seaver and Koosman, and Wright is a fixture at third, then who else might be here in two years?
Professional hitter Daniel Murphy at second, as likely as not. Ike Davis at first? That remains to be seen, certainly now that every at-bat seems to be a referendum on the major league future of this too sensitive a soul. Bobby Parnell as the closer, yes. Jon Niese and/or Dillon Gee in the rotation? Why not?
“We’re a young staff, a young group of guys, with so much talent and so much ahead of us,” Harvey said. “We compete with each other and push each other in a positive way, and that definitely helps.
“I know we’re feeling good about ourselves every time we go onto the field,” Harvey added. “It’s fun to be a part of.”
If the past is prelude to the future, then the Mets are starting to party like it’s 1967. And after last night, it is worth noting that bunch did lose 101 games.
One thing, though: Terry Collins should hope he’s not playing the role of Wes Westrum.