In the Mets’ bizarro world, a nine-game road trip that covers both coasts and a desert might not be such a bad thing.
“I still go on the premise that we’ve played pretty good on the road in the past,” manager Terry Collins said. “This is maybe where, if we come off this road trip and we’re around .500 coming off, that would be a hell of a road trip.”
Atlanta, Anaheim, Arizona. It’s the closest the Mets will get to an apology from MLB for a 2013 schedule that took them to Minnesota and Colorado for three postponements because of snow on their first road trip.
Last week could have been a completely disastrous opening homestand for the Mets — they were swept three games by the Nationals to start the season. It became somewhat more palatable by beating the Reds in two of three over the weekend.
Notably, the Mets bullpen allowed only two runs over eight innings in the Reds series after getting hammered three straight days against the Nationals.
“I think the last three days have been a big improvement from the first three days, so as long as we keep moving in the right direction,” Eric Young Jr. said. “It’s a long season. I know we live on each game, but it’s a long season and it only takes a couple of games to get a streak going and I think we feel optimistic about turning it around.”
Other than a first-base situation that remains unsolved — Lucas Duda will start Tuesday against the Braves at Turner Field, but Collins remains uncommitted beyond that and could switch to surging Ike Davis — the Mets need production from Travis d’Arnaud.
The rookie catcher is hitless in 15 at-bats to begin the season, but Collins said there are no plans to put d’Arnaud on the bench.
“We’re going to send the kid out there,” Collins said. “He’s our guy, we’re going to send him out there for awhile and if he doesn’t get it going, we’ll worry about it then. But, right now, he’s going to catch.”
The Mets preach plate discipline, instructing hitters to work deep into counts, but d’Arnaud has been given some leeway, according to Collins.
“He is the one guy that is swinging early in the count,” Collins said. “But we’ve gone through his stats and looked at his numbers and when he does damage, it’s early in the count. Now, is he getting the pitches to hit to do damage? I can’t answer that. But he’s not putting good swings on it.”
The Braves’ rotation took a hit in spring training with Kris Medlen and Brandon Beachy each undergoing a second Tommy John surgery. Their replacements, Aaron Harang and Ervin Santana, will start the next two nights against the Mets.
Harang, who finished last season with the Mets, was cut by the Indians in spring training. Santana signed a one-year deal with the Braves in March worth $14.1 million.
Despite winning 74 games for a second straight year, the Mets were 41-40 on the road in 2013. But the Mets don’t want to make it seem as if the road is their refuge.
“Hopefully we can continue going out there and doing well on the road,” David Wright said. “But we need to do well at home more importantly, because for us to be successful, you have to take care of business at home and we’re off to a slow start with that.”