They are 11-4 since the All-Star break and have moved within four games of Miami for the second NL wild-card spot.
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They had better do that quickly as the Mets seem to be sinking deeper into a funk similar to the one they fell into previous year at this time. The lead grew to 7-2 in the seventh when Daniel Descalso walked, Blackmon doubled and the pair scored on sacrifice flies from LeMahieu and Arenado. And there was Michael Conforto who is in this mix again of trying to find himself at the plate.
He added: “Friday night [against the Nationals] was the first fun weekend I ever had in the big leagues”.
“We have a good team”.
There are no signs of a similar turnaround this year.
“Familia is as good as there is in the game”, Rockies manager Walt Weiss said.
“We were lucky. We ended up with the right deal and we ended up with a player who went off for two months”, Alderson said earlier this week.
Boone Logan, Jordan Lyles and Gonzalez Germen then each pitched clean innings to close out the win, though it looked initially like Germen’s inning would not be clean when Wilmer Flores hit what appeared to be a solo home run, but after video review he was ruled out on fan interference. “We’ve got to be careful not to overdo it”.
“I think that teams, just like players, go through slumps”, Yoenis Cespedes said through a translator after being pulled with a tight right quad. Who’s going to say he’s going to catch it?
And, there is no indication that a bat or two is on the way. “I’m a little exhausted of seeing long faces”. That was fun. Maybe the Mets should have stopped there, and given in to the steady rain, because the game that followed was just more of the same not-fun baseball the Mets have been playing all week. James Loney accounted for the lone Mets run, his sixth of the year in the second inning as the Mets continued their home run barrage at home, their 28th in their last 16 games at Citi Field.
“This is not the time of year to panic”, said Neil Walker. “The outside expectation is that we have to win every series. This is tough baseball”.
Flores was right about one thing – you can’t assume anything, including that the Mets will stay in the playoff race.
And, yes the Mets have sustained crucial injuries that may be a contributing factor to this failure of scoring runs.
Jose Reyes was placed on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to July 27 with a strained intercostal muscle. The center fielder is expected to miss at least six weeks as he’ll undergo surgery to fix a torn ligament in his thumb.
Collins may not have the answers. That’s the next goal is to come out tomorrow and play a good game.
But this time, Alderson and his staff have their backs against the wall.
“We’re in each game”, said Collins about the latest loss and futility to score. But the slumping Nolan Arenado got out of his slump – at least for a moment – giving the Rockies their first hit in the fourth. “He’s got a good sinker and if I put it in play good chance it’s going to be on the ground, so I made a decision to take a chance and get the bunt down 0-2”. We’ve still got a lot of games to play.
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On the day the Mets retired Hall of Fame catcher Mike Piazza’s No. 31, the Mets tied their longest skid of the season with a fourth loss in a row.
