While many of us might have been pre-occupied with the sparkling MLB debut of Washington Nationals' pitcher Stephen Strasburg or game 3 of the NBA final (it's a FINAL, ABC, not a FINALS), some of us kept an eye or ear on last night's Padres-Mets game at Citi Field.
The main story? Mets 2, Padres 1. 11 innings. Ike Davis homer to win the game. Mike Pelfrey pitched nine strong innings for a no-decision. Oh, and the Padres and Mets combined to go 0-17 with runners in scoring position. Some game, eh?
The REAL story? The Mets are truly amazin' when playing at home in Citi Field. Boy, what a difference a year makes! 23-9 so far, and if the Mets were just a tad better on the road than their 8-18 record (you gotta win some of these one-run games, guys) imagine the conversations we'd be having as summer is soon to begin. As it is, our Mets are truly showing us they're much better than the 2009 version and we could very well be witnessing something special as the pieces slowly fall into place.
Who would've thought our Mets could hit home runs at Citi? Who would've thought our pitching staff could give us night after night of gutsy performances, even with John Maine and Ollie Perez on the fritz? Who would've thought we'd see reasonable production from the middle of the batting order without Carlos (who? where? when is he supposed to be back?) Beltran? And who would've thought we'd get great offense and defense from the catching position by guys not named Molina?
More importantly, who would've expected our Mets would be 31-27 in early June, and Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya still have reserved parking spaces?
Oh yeah, this could be a fun summer when everyone's back, healthy, and playing consistently.
You know how I know this could be a special summer? Last night as the 10th inning was winding down, I saw a tweet from the account of WFAN's Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts (sorry, but I don't exactly know which one does the actual tweeting), basically saying if the Mets don't score soon they don't know how much longer the bullpen can hold on and do the job. My response? The bullpen will hold on as long as it needs to. We're home. We'll be okay.
Yeah, I said that. I have so much confidence in our Mets this season that no game seems lost when playing at Citi. I see it. We saw it Sunday when they came back to complete a sweep of the Marlins. I feel it. This is the team that managed to win a 20-inning game in St. Louis back in April. Our Mets don't do these things, not on any consistent basis.
Think about it. They're not even playing their best and are four games above .500 and riding their second big winning streak at home so far this season. Citi may not be where David Wright fly balls come to die, where Met seasons come to die. Citi may be where other teams come to die. For a change, we now have a house of horrors for opponents, instead of the other way around (see Turner Field).
But I can't harp enough on trends, and here's the key trend to keep watching all summer - right now, the Mets have a better intradivisional record than anyone else in the NL East, including Atlanta and Philadelphia. I've said from almost the start of the season, if you want to be the king of your division you have to beat the teams in it. If you don't believe me, ask Rex Ryan how that 2-4 record within the AFC East bugs him after making it to the AFC championship game as a 5-seed instead of at least a 3-seed.
Repeat after me... to be the beast of the east, the Mets need to devour the Braves, Phillies, Marlins, and Nationals as often as they can, especially at home when the good vibes are rolling. Will the Mets necessarily be a .500 team on the road by season's end? Who knows, but I do know this... if they can play .500 against their NL East rivals and the better teams in the NL Central and Western divisions AND feast on teams like Baltimore and Cleveland when paying visits, the Mets will not be such an easy out if the stars are all aligned and they somehow make it into October baseball. My point? Don't worry too much about that 8-18 road record for the moment. See how the Mets do for the next 15-30 road games and draw updated conclusions.
Of course, I could be very wrong, and things could go very wrong over the next few weeks, but I'd rather be a cockeyed optimist and look forward to the games played between now and the All-Star Break. So when things seem iffy or gloomy as the night gets longer and the innings dwindle fewer, just keep your faith, click your heels three times and say no worries, we're at Citi.
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