The New York Mets earned their fifth consecutive victory on Thursday night and completed a three-game sweep of the Cleveland Indians with a rain-shortened 2-0 win as they keep marching toward a playoff berth with the Atlanta Braves in town this weekend.
Having won 13 of their last 14 games at Citi Field, the Mets have many players they could credit for their second-half resurgence, but one player who is often overlooked and has had a big hand in the team’s success is starting catcher Wilson Ramos.
Ramos, 32, extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a two-run, go-ahead double in the fourth inning against the Indians, and is now batting .391 (25-64) during the streak with three doubles, three homers, 14 RBI, six runs scored and three walks. The last Met with a longer hitting streak was José Reyes who hit in 18 straight in 2008.
It’s not just Ramos’s bat that has been driving the team’s surge in the wild card standings, but his presence behind the plate continues to get rave reviews from Mets starting pitchers.
Noah Syndergaard, who earned the win last night, gave a nod to his battery-mate and praised the veteran catcher for his game-calling skills.
“I think the reason I had such success for those six innings is just the trust that I had with Wilson behind the dish,” Syndergaard told reporters. “That really allowed me to maintain my focus, because all I had to do was focus on my execution of the pitch.”
According to manager Mickey Callaway, Ramos is expected to get the night off on Friday as the Mets begin a huge series with the first-place Braves. “He’s started three straight games in a row and we need to keep him fresh.”
“We got Ramos because we knew he was going to go out there and hit and drive in runs. That one hit that he gets with runners in scoring position seems to always be back up the middle or the other way and that’s going to score a lot of runs.”
The Mets signed Wilson Ramos to a two-year deal in December and thus far he has proven to be one of Brodie Van Wagenen’s few success stories along with reliever Justin Wilson and outfielder J.D. Davis.
A two-time All Star, Ramos is slashing .279/.344/.411 with 11 doubles, 13 homers and 63 RBIs in 112 games for the Mets It’s been a while since the Mets have gotten that kind of offense from behind the plate but most notable are all those runs driven in. Ramos could potentially finish the season with 80 RBIs if he keeps up his current level of production.
Meanwhile the Mets keep chugging along and piling up victories, many of which have come in hard-fought battles and are of the walk-off variety. And just as important as all those wins is a swagger that hasn’t been seen in Flushing since Mike Piazza, Robin Ventura and Edgardo Alfonzo were donning their black jerseys and doing their thing.
“We have all the confidence in the world right now,” J.D. Davis said after he played the hero on Wednesday. “But some things we do, we’re surprising ourselves.”
There are certain moments in a season that make you believe a team is destined to win. They usually contain the perfect mix of timeliness, resiliency, luck, and large doses of confidence. Lately, we’ve been seeing a lot of that from the Mets, and if seeing is believing, well… You Gotta Believe.
