SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Now is the time for the Mets to take their successful home show on the road. This is the perfect starting point against the Marlins at smallish Hiram Bithorn Stadium.
Interleague is over. It’s back to the reality of the NL East. The Mets have to start winning NL East road games. They are 3-8 in that department. They have 25 road games left within the division. It’s time to turn it around.
They were 7-2 against the AL East on their last road trip. It’s time to do that in their division.
The Marlins, who will be led by interim manager Edwin Rodriguez, are floundering and the Mets will miss Florida’s ace, Josh Johnson. Jerry Manuel’s club couldn’t ask for a better situation.
The Mets won their 43rd game yesterday, a 6-0 victory over the Twins at Citi Field, to move within a half a game of first-place Atlanta. The Mets are 43-32, but there is still so much to prove. All you need to know is that going into June 28, 2007, Collapse I, the Mets also had 43 wins.
The Mets will be fighting those demons until they win the division and that’s not going to be easy because this is an improving division. It’s no longer just the Phillies that the Mets have to worry about in this division. The Braves have improved and the Nationals, with Stephen Strasburg being The Super-Natural, are getting better.
“This is becoming a real good division,” said Jeff Francoeur, who blasted one of three Mets home runs yesterday.
The Mets have been resilient even though some of their big guns have let them down. Johan Santana is in one of those spirals where he does just enough to lose nearly every time out. The Mets have lost seven of his last nine starts. He needs to put the brakes on his personal collapse.
The man who is being paid ace money, Santana, is trying to figure out how to win without a fastball.
The Mets’ strength has been bit players playing like stars, led by tonight’s starter R.A. Dickey and Jon Niese, who won 6-0 yesterday against the Twins. We’ll see if Dickey’s knuckleball continues to dance in the tropical heat as it has everywhere else as he takes a 6-0 record against Ricky Nolasco. Niese and Dickey are a combined, 11-2.
The Mets have gotten lucky with Dickey and Hisanori Takahashi. Niese is another story. General manager Omar Minaya believed in him and that’s why he didn’t go out and pick up some of the slop that was on the free agent market.
Landing Cliff Lee would put the Mets over the top, but I believe Lee will wind up with the Twins, who simply have more trade chips. Jenrry’s Mejia’s shoulder stiffness complicates the situation. Mejia should be shut down.
The Mets could help out all their pitchers if they hit like they did yesterday. At home they have confidence they will prevail. On the road, where they are 15-20, they need to show they can beat the heat in the NL East.