It would be unfair to discredit the Tampa Bay Rays and their own desire in their series against the Mets.
They came from behind twice when trailing by three runs this weekend to defeat the Mets and win the three game series. They did it at home, but in front of a crowd which the majority was not on their side in St. Petersburg.
They deserve credit. Sandy Alderson offered them credit on Sunday.
“[The Rays] played us very well and has got a good club, and we are happy to be 4-2 and we are looking forward to the homestand.”
Terry Collins was also pleased with the road trip overall.
“You go on the road, you go 4-2, you take it,” the manager explained.
A 4-2 road trip is nice, especially for a team that has struggled away from Citi Field in 2015.
But it could have been better, and probably should have been better, and needed to be better, especially with the Nationals dropping a series of their own against the Rockies in Washington.
In the final two games of this series, the Mets let Tampa Bay in the door and the Mets watched them steal two valuable games, leading 3-0 early only to see those leads dissipate with the Mets swinging and missing at every single opportunity they had, a total of 28 times in the final two games.
The offense browned out in swing-and-miss fashion after two fast starts on Saturday and Sunday. But the starting pitching was hardly lockdown either, which allowed Tampa Bay to sneak away with two wins against what was a surging Met team.
“We could have had a couple of games, but didn’t get them,” Collins explained.
Collins has chosen to view the series with the glass being half full, despite the loss and the lost opportunity to expand their lead in the division.
“We’ll take Friday as a real positive. We came back and fought really hard. The last two nights we didn’t pitch like we normally have,” the manager said.
The club is going to lose games down the stretch. The Mets aren’t always going to increase their lead, and yes, their lead will decrease at times too. But the good teams take advantage of their opportunities this time of year. Yes, the Mets are 4-2 at the beginning of the softest part of the schedule, but when the club blows two three run leads, the mark probably needed to be better.
The Mets are now home in which they’ve posted a dominant 38-18 record. They’re home to play the Rockies, a second-division team who just won a series from the Nationals who seem eager to play spoiler. They will then face the Pirates, who schooled them in Pittsburgh back in May and got their season the fast track in that series as well.
Meanwhile, the Nationals head out west to face the Giants and the Dodgers this week. They will face all three of Madison Bumgarner, Zack Greinke, and Clayton Kershaw.
But the Mets have another opportunity against both the Rockies and the Pirates. They’re home, they’re reinforced, and they have another chance to show they can play with the elite teams in the National League East, much like they did throughout the month of July.
“This is when the good teams win.’’ Collins said.
And it’s certainly when they don’t lose, and don’t run a losing streak against the second-tier of the league.
Just Mets 