It may be early in the season, but make no mistake, it is critical for the Mets to take this series from the Nationals this weekend.
The Mets are 15-7, the best record in the National League, tied for the best record in the major leagues and have a six-game lead on the preseason World Series favorites, the Washington Nationals. Still though, fans are already starting to feel a bit uneasy as we approach this important four-game set that begins Thursday night.
The Mets won their 11th consecutive game one week ago today–tied for the longest winning streak in franchise history–but have since lost four out of their last six games, and two consecutive series.
Washington on the other hand was off to a dreadful start, and on Tuesday appeared to be on their way for their 7th consecutive loss, that is until they 
were able to comeback from eight runs down–fueled by Dan Uggla of all people–and beat the Braves. The Nats have won back-to-back games for the first time since winning two straight from April 19-21. In their last two games they’ve scored a combined 26 runs, while the Mets have scored 22 in their last six contests.
Now, it’s only a two-game sample, and against a Braves team that isn’t expected to contend, but it appears that in the last couple days that Washington has their confidence back, and that’s a scary thing. While the Mets built an eight-game division lead on the Nats earlier this week–now down to six–they’re not overlooking this team.
“They are the team we have to beat,” manager Terry Collins told reporters on Wednesday night. “Make no mistake, they are still the team. They got off to a slow start, but they are still a very, very good club. We’ve got to go home and win as many games as we can.”
This is an incredibly important early-season series for the Mets, not only for the standings but for team confidence as well. This team has been able to survive, and excel in the absence of Vic Black, Bobby Parnell, Jenrry Mejia, David Wright, Jerry Blevins and Travis d’Arnaud to this point, but the injuries may be beginning to catch up with them. The offense is starting to struggle, scoring just three runs in each of the three games in Miami, and averaging 3.6 runs per game in the six games since their 11-game winning streak came to an end.
Lucas Duda has carried the Mets offense throughout most of this season, while Juan Lagares has caught fire the past two weeks and Daniel Murphy appears to be getting out of his April-funk as well. These are positive things, while on the other side of things Michael Cuddyer, despite his 2-run home run last night, has been struggling to start the season out of the clean-up spot. Additionally, prior to the past few games, Murphy had provided next to nothing offensively or defensively, Wilmer Flores has been inconsistent on both sides of the ball, Curtis Granderson‘s power has gone M.I.A. and Kevin Plawecki hasn’t been able to replace d’Arnaud’s offense–which you could have never expected him to do.
The Mets have to put their sloppy play of the last few days in the rear-view mirror starting tonight at Citi Field, where they are 10-0 to start the season. Maybe seeing the Nationals come into town will focus and energize this Mets team–they know that despite their lead in the standings that Washington is still perceived to be the favorites to win this division. This weekend provides the Mets a chance to build on that division lead, prove that they’re for real and get that confidence back.
Just Mets 