Photo by Roberto Carlo
The New York Mets are still the best team in the National League East.
The Mets took it to Atlanta, taking two out of three in their home park, showing all of New York’s detractors they’re going to win games on their agenda and not what’s called unsustainable by faceless Twitter users.
The Mets took the battle of the aces on Monday and took the rubber match on Wednesday. They maintained their lead in the division and now own a slight record edge of 4-3 in games against the Braves.
The two squads still have 11 more meetings this season, but right now (and how it’s been all season) the Mets are on top.
Let’s sum up the series.
Atlanta pitched Max Fried, Spencer Strider, and Charlie Morton. (All failed to pitch past the fifth inning)
Francisco Lindor surpassed his RBI total from last season on July 13.
The Mets didn’t have two of their All-Stars.
They still don’t have Jacob deGrom or a serviceable designated hitter.
They won a game 7-3 with Luis Guillorme batting cleanup.
New York is 21 games over .500. They have the second-best record in the NL and fourth-best in baseball.
And there’s still more to come.
The Braves entered the series red-hot and confident they’d overtake the Mets in the standings by the time the ninth inning finished up on Wednesday. Instead, the Mets proved their resilience.
No, the Mets weren’t the luckier team. They were the better team. They’ve been the same team they’ve been all season. The same one that failed to lose a series until a month and a half in. The same one that didn’t lose back-to-back games until May 24. The same one that avoided their June swoon and is now 8-5 to start July.
When the Mets needed their stars to step up they did. Lindor went 5-14 with a home run and four RBI. Pete Alonso drove in two runs in their game one win. Max Scherzer pitched seven innings, striking out nine. Edwin Diaz struck out the side while pitching for his third day in a row.
The Mets sent a statement.
If you want to beat them, you need to be better. They’re not rolling over no matter what the lineup looks like.
New York has more additions to make (some might be addition by subtraction). The team that played the Braves this week might not be the same when they meet again on August 4.
But one thing will be the same, they’re not running from the challenge.
With Buck Showalter leading the clubhouse the Mets successfully executed their most important regular season series in years. They now have two and a half more months to continued to show they’re the best in the East.
