3 UP

1.  Rosario Raking

When he was called up to the majors, Amed Rosario was playing great defensively, and he was finding himself offensively. Well, if the past month is any judge, Rosario has found himself.  In the month of September, he’s hitting .429/.478/.476 with a double and a stolen base.

It’s more than just the stats. Much like his mentor, Jose Reyes, Rosario has been able to get on base and create runs using his speed.  He’s a dynamic player who can affect a game in a lot of ways, and we’re seeing him just scratch the surface now.

Unfortunately, Rosario left yesterday’s game with a hip flexor injury.

2.  Smith’s Power Stroke

One of the major questions about Dominic Smith during his minor league career and when he was called up to the majors was his ability to hit for power.  Well, as noted by ESPN‘s Mark Simon, Smith is ranked third in the majors in exit velocity in the Month of September.

Unlike former Met Eric Campbell, we have seen tangible results with Smith’s exit velocity.  The first baseman has hit three doubles and four homers already in the month, and he is slugging a robust .545.  This streak follows the power hitting trends we have seen from him at the end of last year and the second half of this year prior to his call-up to the majors.

3.  Bruce Walk-Off

While the Mets were getting embarrassed and outclassed again, Jay Bruce was in Cleveland hitting a walk-off double to secure the Indians 22nd straight win.

Overall, there have not been many things to root for this season, but Bruce has been one of them.  After a tough 2016 tenure with the Mets, he rebounded and had a great year with the Mets.  He’s one of the good guys, and it’s nice to see him in a much better situation winning games.

3 DOWN

1.  Dejected Harvey

Time and again after a poor start, Matt Harvey would find reasons for hope.  He would point to his velocity being there.  Other times, Harvey would point out his stuff is improving.  When all else fails, Harvey would say he just needed to make mechanical adjustments.

After a 3.1 inning start against the Cubs, Harvey just fessed up.  He’s not had a lot good happen to him over the past few injury riddled seasons.  The fire, competitive spirit, and fight we’ve seen from him in past moments seemed long gone.  That’s probably what happens to you when you’ve dealt with Tommy John and TOS.  It is also the result of him having a 5.45 ERA and a 1.517 WHIP over the last two years.

This isn’t Harvey, and he knows it.  There’s still some time and a whole offseason for him to hopefully get back to that point.  But for right now, it’s time to admit things are wrong with him and move on from there.

2.  The Bullpen

In this series, the Mets made 17 pitching changes.  The first 15 relievers brought in allowed a run, inherited run, or both.  The collective performance of the bullpen led to the Cubs scoring a ton of runs.  In fact, the Mets allowed 39 runs which is the most they have allowed in a three game series in their history. Put another way, the Mets have achieved a new low this year.

3.  Officially Eliminated

As put so succinctly and damningly by MMO‘s Michael Mayer yesterday, the Mets have suffered their seventh losing season during Sandy Alderson’s nine year tenure as the Mets GM.

After last night’s loss, the Mets have also officially missed the postseason for the seventh time over the last nine years. This is now the second earliest the Mets have been eliminated from postseason contention.

Long story short, this season has been a complete and utter disaster, and it’s been indicative of the struggles the Mets have had during the Sandy Alderson Era. In order to change that narrative, the Mets are going to have to go out this offseason and make the changes necessary to make this a winning team again.

If not, we very well could remember this era for Sandy falling to deliver a World Series or at least a prolonged stretch of winning.