After the Mets lost their fourth game in a row yesterday, Terry Collins said he remains hopeful the Mets will turn it around. Collins told reporters the Mets can put this stretch behind them if they can finish the home stand strong.
”What is it, four in a row? That’s not going in the right direction,” the Mets manager said. ”But, as I told them last night, if we win the next four, we can forget about it.”
”Right now we got to win the next three here,” Collins added. “That’s the next goal, to come out tomorrow and play a good game. We’ve still got to come here every day and grind it out.”
This latest stretch is perhaps the lowest point of the season so far. The Mets have dropped five of their last six games, and they are 6-9 since the All-Star Break.
“Teams, just like players, go through slumps,” Yoenis Cespedes said through an interpreter. “We’re obviously going through a slump right now. But I know that every guy that goes out there, they can play hard. They’re going to keep working at it. And eventually, we’re going to come out of this.” (ESPN NY)
The lineup is struggling mightily as they have scored only 40 runs since the break, which is the worst total in the majors.They’ve also scored just four runs over their last 29 innings.
Injury concerns are also continuing to grow as Cespedes’ quad injury is still nagging, and Jose Reyes just landed on the disabled list with an oblique injury.
Additionally, it’s starting to appear unlikely the Mets will add a major piece at the deadline. Jonathan Lucroy is now off the market after his trade to the Indians, and their other options are hardly ideal and Sandy Alderson doesn’t want to trade his top prospects for them.
But the Mets have experienced lows like this before, and were able to overcome them a year ago.
It was right around this time last year when the Carlos Gomez trade fell through, and they were dealt a devastating loss to the Padres at Citi Field. The Mets quickly overcame this adversity and made it all the way to the World Series thanks to some key additions and getting healthier.
While this year’s team is facing a lot of obstacles, they still have enough talent and time left to make similar run. A 7.5 game deficit isn’t insurmountable, and a wild card spot is well within reach.
The starting pitching is still one of the leagues’ most dominant with Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz leading the way. If the offense can just find a spark, the Mets could storm their way back into the thick of it once again.
