It wasn’t any of the new guys who came through for the Mets on Tuesday night against the Marlins.
It wasn’t Curtis Granderson, Lucas Duda, Travis d’Arnaud, or any of the other regulars to get the big hit to help seal the Mets fifth straight win, either.
For it was Eric Campbell who dunked a go-ahead RBI single over the head of Adeiny Hechavarria with two outs in the eighth inning, to not only give the Mets the lead, but energize the Mets towards three more runs as they were en route to a 5-1 win over the Marlins in Miami.
Then, it was Juan Lagares driving in two runs with a triple, looking like the Juan Lagares the Mets badly need him to be hitting line drives and taking his now patented graceful strides around the bases.
“It’s a confident group,” Campbell said after the game. “Now the feeling is, ‘When is something good going to happen?’ ”
Just two weeks ago, the feeling seemed to be, ‘when is anything going to happen?’
It’s happening now, as it turns out. And, everyone is contributing, including Campbell, believe it or not.
What a difference two weeks and a three hitters can make for a team and the perception of that team, who has averaged 5.9 runs per game in their last ten contests, going 8-2 in the process.
Something happened in that series against the Nationals. It’s not clear whether it was the fans who energized the team, whether it’s the infusion of big league talent to the roster, David Wright’s presence in the clubhouse, or maybe a combination of all of that.
But this is a different team. It’s an inspired team. They are playing with belief and hunger, and a team suddenly unwilling to let down.
While it’s just five games, they seemed to have come together in those five games. It’s a team that believes that they can be successful and win games in every single moment, whether it’s Campbell, Wilmer Flores, or Yoenis Cespedes coming through with a big hit, or the infielders turning a big double play, or the pitchers coming through with a big strikeout to limit damage.
It’s that confidence and swagger they came out of spring training with, which went into hibernation after their 16th game of the season.
“There is no sense of panic, there is no sense of urgency. We felt we were going to get some chances to score, and the veteran leadership in the dugout, they are just [great],” Terry Collins said after another exciting win on Tuesday.
It doesn’t mean anything until they cross the finish line on October 4, but the Mets just seem like that winning team people have craved for the better part of a decade. These last few days have been unique in that they seem like the way things were in 2006 and 2007 (before they fell apart, of course).
It won’t seem this easy at points down the stretch of the season, and it remains to be seen how the young core of the Mets respond to situations where even shaking off the catcher for one pitch could be the difference in the season.
But right now on August 5, the offense is better. The defense is better. The energy is better. The pitching continues to be championship-caliber top-to-bottom.
They are the talk of baseball again. Just listen to sports radio, or watch MLB Network, or read the national columnists. More people are going to Citi Field to see the Mets now too, as they are in ballparks all around the country.
Everyone is gaga for the New York Mets. It’s a relevance they haven’t had in a long, long time.
Winning, especially in the ways they have lately, is a good thing. They just need to keep this motor running.
Just Mets 