Just Mets

The Mets have navigated to a 47-42 record heading into the All-Star break.

Somehow.

They’ve done it with a slew of injuries, a makeshift bullpen, an unbalanced roster for most of the season, a roster which has been missing key components, and minor leaguers manning starting positions everyday at the big league level.

They’ve done it with guys like Daniel Muno starting way more than he should, Ruben Tejada as the everyday shortstop, and guys like Kirk Nieuwenhuis, John Mayberry Jr., and Darrell Ceciliani batting in the middle of a big league lineup far more frequently than they should.

They’ve done it with a makeshift bullpen, a brand new closer who has suddenly risen to stardom, a Rule 5 pick, lost soldiers who have been replaced, overworked and overexposed arms with guys pitching in positions success was not expected. Yet, they have.

They have a -2 run differential, suggesting their 47-42 record is an overachievement. Their offense has been so bad, their pitchers have a higher average and slugging percentage than their pitchers.

Somehow, they’re 47-42. They’re just two games behind the far more complete (on paper) Washington Nationals in the National League East, one game behind the rising Chicago Cubs for the second Wild Card.

Sure, a lot of this is a tribute to their tremendous starting pitching, and that they’ve had two pitchers not only graduate to the big league level during the season, but already contributing at a high level. That is certainly a credit to Paul DePodesta, Dicky Scott, Ian Levin, the minor league affiliates, and the rest of the player development system to get them ready for this.

Yes, there are 73 games to go, but with this roster and the adversity this team has faced, all of the praise in the world belongs to Terry Collins and the tremendous job of his coaching staff to keep this thing together – both on the field and in the clubhouse – despite a lot of uncertainty and walking the fine line between a pennant race and sheer irrelevancy.

Some fans may not want to hear that, but it’s true.

“The [eleven-game winning streak] was certainly a huge part of our first half,” Collins said after Sunday’s win against the Diamondbacks. “But, I think the fact that we fought through all of the injuries we’ve had and still are hanging in there is probably as we look back the best thing we’ve achieved.”

Collins in particular is constantly tasked with the challenge of fitting square pegs into round holes. He has had to deal with a fragmented roster pretty much since day one in Washington when he was forced to use Buddy Carlyle to close out the game. It’s because of that fragmented and incomplete roster he’s been forced to make unconventional decisions and go against the grain by using players in roles they are not fit for.

But 89 games into what everyone in the organization deemed as a relevant season, it’s all worked.

His coaching staff, particularly Bob Geren, are the scientists in the room providing the manager data he can rely upon and make decisions off of. He uses basic statistics for the most part, and uses gut feelings more than anything.

In other words, he is an old school manager who checks in on the data.

And that’s ok, because it has worked for him this year.

Case in point, when the fans were ridiculing the manager for batting Kirk Nieuwenhuis fifth on Sunday, Collins used a gut feeling the outcasted lefty would have a big game in a favorable matchup.

And, Nieuwenhuis became the first Met ever to hit three home runs in a game game.

Sure, Collins has gotten lucky at times this year, he doesn’t always provide the most accurate statistics to the media, and he makes weird decisions in-game and goes against the grain, probably to the chagrin of his bosses.

Again, that’s ok as long as he’s winning, and right now, he has navigated a team which should be under .500 into a very favorable position.

But despite this success in the face of adversity, the manager is not satisfied with their record, and feels they should actually be even better.

“At the break to be over .500, yeah, that’s a nice accomplishment. It’s certainly not the end-all. We’re a little frustrated we’re not more over .500,” Collins explained. “All we’ve got to do is continue to play and grind this out. We come out of that break with ten games against three teams in first place. So we’ve still got a tough road ahead.”

Will the magic last into the second half? If it does, this team might actually be playing beyond game 162 for the first time since 2006. He needs more ammo, and that’s up to the General Manager to provide between now and the trade deadline.

But if he gets it and gets these Mets beyond October 4, he would be a well deserving manager of the year, regardless of whether or not Sandy retains him.