Friday, June 24, 2011

Road Ahead is a Weary One for Mets









This short home stand hasn't been a good one. Two teams that are well under .500 and the Mets could only muster a split of the 6 game series. The team sits at a game under .500 but it's the road ahead that should concern most Mets fans.

The team's struggle to breach the .500 mark and somehow tread water above it will get no easier as June turns to July. The Tigers, Rangers, Yankees, and a West Coast road trip are laid out before us. Then comes the All Star Break with an NL East lineup of opponents waiting thereafter.

Prepare to have the season decided.

Am I being overly dramatic? It's in my nature. But am I really that far off? I don't think so. If the Mets are fortunate enough to somehow split the 6 game series against the Rangers and Tigers, they then return home to face the Yankees. Let's say they win that series 2-1. That leaves them at .500 heading to the West Coast where we all know they struggle. In a 7 game series against the Dodgers & Giants, the Mets could easily go 2-5 putting them 3 games under .500 heading into the All Star Break.

Then comes the Phillies, Marlins & Cardinals. And the ditch they have dug may be too deep to climb out of.

Sure David Wright might return by then. We may even be counting the days until we see Johan Santana, but do we think our bullpen and light hitting lineup can sustain us until that point?

At some point the Mets luck is going to run out when it comes to the unbelievable production of guys like Turner, Tejada and even Murphy. We've already seen them cool down a bit. You can only win so many games when you've got Duda playing every other game, and your bench is hitting a few dozen points below the Mendoza line.

I want to have hope, but realism is starting to set in. This set of interleague games this week will be a barometer for the weeks to come.

It's a weary road and we'll soon see if this young group of replacement players is battle tested enough to travel it.

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