The first half of the season is over, thankfully. And as we get back to the second half of the season, I hope we can look forward to continuing to enjoy watching New York Mets Baseball.
The past two weeks have been exciting. The Mets have been playing the type of baseball we all hoped they could. I never would have guessed it earlier in the season. All too often in the first half of the season, particularly in the beginning of June, I found myself dreading the nightly trouncing the Mets were sure to put my heart and soul through. Day games were a blessing to the fans because, for those of us who work days, at least we didn’t have to watch the devastation. I was exhausted. I can only imagine how exhausted the Mets were. Not only physical exhaustion, but the mental and emotional exhaustion they must have felt with all of the negative attention they were receiving in the media for their on-field play and front office moves. It seemed as though every week, we were watching late night series from the West coast. To boot, we were not sent to bed with a lot of wins and happy recaps. Those days appear to be behind the Mets. I hope.
A nine game win-streak is great. I just hope that the Mets continue to focus on their roles, keep working on improving their fundamentals, and keep in mind what has been working for them. All too often in the first half of the season, we would see spurts of good baseball where we all thought the Mets had “turned the corner” and that their woes were behind them. The schedule would not allow the Mets to continue their streaks because they were a team depleted of energy and emotion. The course for the second half of the season does not seem as rocky as the first. The Mets will not see any more West coast trips, while the other teams in the division seem to face a tougher schedule which will hopefully help the Mets’ standings. In addition, the caliber of teams the Mets are set to face are not as high as the first.
The Mets are starting the second half against the Cincinnati Reds, a team that is in fourth place in the NL Central with a 46-50 record. However, they have a 7-3 record in their last ten games that took them through Chicago, Milwaukee and Washington. The hitters to look out for on their team are Dunn, Griffey, Votto and Brandon Phillips. None of the Reds’ hitters are “hot” right now, but the Mets should not let themselves get beaten by the long ball from Dunn or Griffey.
Let’s start off the second half where we left off in the first. There is no reason why the Mets shouldn’t take this series if not sweep them (imagine how sweet three sweeps in a row would taste?). The Mets have been showing off their power the past two to three weeks. I hope this continues in the Great American Bandbox. LGM
