The Mets Are Rolling Into Atlanta

Photo: Paul J. Bereswill

The New York Mets saw their 8 game winning streak come to an end on Sunday and passed up on the opportunity to overtake Washington to move into the Wild Card spot. The team, instead, falls a game and a half behind the Nationals.

In spite of the loss, the team took two out of three from the Nats and won 15 of 17.

Now they head to Atlanta to open up a three game series with the Braves on Tuesday. The Nationals series was the start of a difficult part of the schedule, at least according to opponents winning percentage.

The team is flying high right now. They are a confident bunch believing they can win any game. Their starting pitching keeps them in it most every night which is a great help.

Sunday saw a so-so performance from Jacob deGrom who only lasted 5 innings. He did not give up an earned run although three scored on a throwing error by Pete Alonso in the first inning. deGrom fought his control all day long. It was not the best outing for the reigning Cy Young Award winner.

The Braves has a big lead in the National League East and, if the Mets have any ideas of catching them, they need a sweep. This is a tall task especially on the road. The Mets have not fared well all year long, logging a road record that is sub .500.

Baseball is a marathon and it is easy to get caught up in the highs and lows of one game. This team is hot right now. It make a huge move to get back into the race. Unfortunately, it is easy to fall out if a prolonged losing streak were to take hold. The Mets must prevent against this.

There is still a lot of baseball left. They need to focus upon winning series. While losing on Sunday was a letdown, a self-inflicted one, it is not the end of the world. The Mets still took two out of three in the series against the team occupying the first Wild Card spot.

Fans are greedy but if you asked the team about this result before the series started, I am sure they would have signed up for it. Ball players know how hard it is to sweep a team, especially a very good one.

The Mets are a confident bunch. They will need it this week in Atlanta.