With the Mets six games behind the Nationals, Terry Collins says isn’t time to panic yet. The Mets have dropped two games in a row to the last place Braves, but Collins believes his team will turn things around very soon.
“We’ve got [the first-place Washington Nationals] seven times over the next [three] weeks,” the Mets manager said Saturday. “So we’ll be ready for it.” (Danny Knobler, ESPN.com)
Collins says he has confidence because the Mets always seem to step up their performance against top tier teams. Last season for example. the Mets swept the Nationals twice in the second half to overtake them for the National League East title.
“I’ve always felt this about our team,” Collins said. “When we need to pick it up, we do. It seems like when we play the Nationals, or play these good teams, for some reason there’s just more energy.”
Maria Guardado of NJ.com points out the Mets will face one of their most challenging stretches of the season in the coming weeks. They will play 20 straight games against the Royals, Braves, Cubs, Marlins and two sets against Washington.
The Mets are preparing to face some of the best pitching staffs in the league, but Collins doesn’t believe they are under any added pressure to preform.
“This is the major leagues,” Collins said. “This is where the best are, and the good teams are going to have good pitching. If you’re pitching is subpar, I don’t care how good offensively you are, you’re not going to win a lot of games. We know their pitching is good. Our whole thing was we felt that going into spring training, our depth in our rotation is what made us special. But we knew other teams had good pitching.”
While Collins’ is keeping an optimistic outlook, he fully understands the team needs to play with urgency.
“Of course there is,” manager Terry Collins said before the Mets’ game against the Atlanta Braves Saturday. “But do you talk about it? No. You gotta go play. We’ve got them seven times here in the next two weeks, so we’ll be ready for it.”
There’s still plenty of games left in the season, but the Mets can’t afford to fall too far behind. The Nationals appear much stronger this season as they have the third best record in the majors at 43-26.
Their lineup led by Bryce Harper and Daniel Murphy is formidable, and they feature a devastating 1-2 punch at the top of their rotation Stephen Strasburg and Max Scherzer.
These upcoming matches against them are going to be huge, and it could be the turning point of the season.
But one thing is for certain, if the Mets plan on catching their heated rivals, their offense desperately needs to step up. The Mets rank 28th in the majors in runs scored, ahead of only the lowly Phillies and Braves.
Injuries have played a huge role in these struggles, and they received even more bad news this week as their captain, David Wright, underwent neck surgery.
“We’re going to miss David’s presence,” Collins said. “We’ve got to pick up the slack, not just on the field but in the clubhouse.”
But with Travis d’Anaud scheduled to return on Tuesday, the lineup will be getting a much needed boost.
In 268 plate appearances last year, d’Aranud slashed .268/.340/.485 with 12 homeruns and 41 RBI. While he was off to a slow start this year, he’s clearly a big upgrade offensively over the light hitting Rene Rivera and struggling Kevin Plawecki.
“This guy, when he’s in the lineup, is a threat,” Collins said.
