The Mets have postponed both today’s and tomorrow’s games against the Braves at Citi Field. And no doubt at times lately, they’ve wanted to postpone the rest of the season.
With Hurricane Irene still on a path to hit New York late tonight and into tomorrow, it’s yet another bit of misfortune the Mets will have to live through.
But last night, Chris Capuano provided a break from the doldrums, baffling the Braves in a 6-0 two-hit shutout.
It was the lefty’s third career shutout and finest performance as a Met. Capuano (10-11) didn’t allow a baserunner until Dan Uggla reached on a broken-bat single past a diving David Wright to lead off the fifth. Capuano then went on to retire the next 10 batters.
He struck out a career-high 13 and got support from Justin Turner and Lucas Duda, who each had a pair of RBIs.
Capuano also threw 122 pitches, a considerable amount for a pitcher who has endured two Tommy John surgeries.
“I felt great the whole time,” Capuano said. “I purposely kept not looking [at the pitch count] because I didn’t want it in my head. But I didn’t labor at all.”
Manager Terry Collins asked Capuano after the eighth if he wanted to finish the game, and Collins was confident the pitcher’s health this season meant he’d be able to handle the extra work.
Still, Collins added: “I hope he comes out of it OK.”
It’s a realistic concern, especially considering the Mets’ luck this season — actually, the last few seasons.
And now the Mets also have to fend off natural disasters.
With portions of Queens under evacuation orders starting today, some players didn’t know where they were going to wait out the storm until after the game.
“People are going to sleep wherever they can,” Dillon Gee said. “Everybody’s shuffling around for the next two days [and not thinking] about whether we’re playing Monday.”
Several will be spending two days in hotels. And depending on the severity of the storm, Monday’s scheduled doubleheader at Citi Field against the Marlins could also be in jeopardy.
Collins has had to deal with more than his fair share of issues in his first season at the helm with the Mets, and he’s not sticking around to see Irene up close.
“I’m getting out,” Collins said. “I’m getting in my car [this] morning and heading west.”
The Mets just have to hope they survive the hurricane unscathed after winning the first game of a homestand for the first time this season.
“I’ve looked at the last couple of years since I’ve been here and I’ve heard people talk [about injuries],” Collins said. “The good teams are getting healthy and our guys are still dropping. What has happened here, you cannot possibly prepare for. Our two top starters are out.
“When I wrote our lineup down last winter, seven of the starting eight players have missed time and I don’t mean [just] two weeks. It’s really difficult to ask guys to [overcome] that. This time of year, you’ve got to be healthy if you’re going to compete.”
The Mets did for half a season, and Collins still believes had it not been for the injuries, they’d be in contention.
“I know one thing: If we stayed healthy, we’d been playing for something right now,” Collins said. “Because we had a good club and we knew we had a good club.”
Last night, they looked like one again.