The only people who want the Mets to take an off day are the players around the league that are probably tired of losing to them.
After undressing the Cincinnati Reds 10-2 on Wednesday, the Mets have Thursday off, putting some scheduled brakes on the runaway train out of Willets Point.
No one should get too high on beating the Reds, of course, even if the win completes a series sweep. What the Mets can feel good about is their overall record (73-39), an unassailable sign of superiority. Within that sparkling record, they’ve won six in a row, 19 of their last 24 and have now swept five series this year.
“Winning teams, no matter who the opponent is, we go out there and play the same way every single time,” Taijuan Walker expressed. “We could easily get distracted coming off a big five-game series against the Braves. We could get distracted with the Reds. They’re a big league team, their record isn’t very good this year, but we still have to go out there and handle business. That’s what we did.”
The road to victory on Wednesday was paved in the first three innings. The Mets held a 6-0 lead a third of the way into the game, making things tough on Reds’ starter T.J. Zeuch, who was in Triple-A yesterday. Pete Alonso doinked a little single up the middle to put the Mets ahead just three batters in, and Jeff McNeil added a sac fly later in that inning to make it 2-0.
Francisco Lindor etched his name in the history books with his single in the third, tying Jose Reyes’ single-season franchise record for most RBI by a shortstop (81). Daniel Vogelbach kept that two-out rally alive with a single to put the Mets up by five, and in the next inning, one of the other new guys added some fireworks to the show.
Tyler Naquin greeted Zeuch in the bottom of the third by completely smoking a 439-foot home run. Down and inside, typically a left-handed hitter’s power zone, Zeuch’s cutter came in at 88 miles per hour and left at 107. Naquin now has 11 hits since playing his first game for the Mets on July 30. With the home run and a double on Wednesday, seven of those have gone for extra bases. The pixie dust will probably dry up at some point, but right now, the Vogelbach and Naquin additions have been everything the Mets could have asked for.
“That’s a byproduct of the deals we’ve made,” Buck Showalter said. “Being able to get Pete [Alonso] off the field, Mark [Canha] has been grinding for a long time. We’re able to sit [Starling] Marte. That’s another byproduct…It’s made the other players better and more sound physically.”
In the midst of a very carefree summer, the Mets were also able to have some fun on Wednesday. The weather finally cooled down, and as the temperature stayed out of the 90s for what felt like the first time in weeks, the Mets had a celebration. The team held its first ever Women’s Day at Citi Field. Players and coaches wore special commemorative shirts before the game, and the club hosted a special panel featuring the female members of the front office.
On the field, the biggest difference was that each member of the lineup had a walkup song by a woman. Mark Canha walked to the plate with Alanis Morrisette’s “You Oughta Know” coursing through the speakers. Luis Guillorme and Brandon Nimmo were revealed to be Lizzo and Shania Twain fans, respectively. Vogelbach, always the self-deprecating lad, strode to the batter’s box with Kelis singing about her milkshake bringing all the boys to the yard. Even the famously fiery McNeil played along, choosing Hilary Duff’s “What Dreams are Made Of,” a siren song for girlies on the cusp of millennial and Gen Z.
Now that Cincinnati is firmly in the rearview, things are going to get a little more onerous for the red-hot Mets. Each of their next 13 games are against the Phillies, Braves and Yankees, all teams who are well above .500. The beauty of their situation is, even if they emerge from that stretch with a losing record, the Mets will be more than okay.
The offense has scored five or more runs in nine straight games, often doing so without relying on the home run ball. The starting pitching has been excellent — Walker kept that going on Wednesday, going six strong with five strikeouts and only two earned runs — and the man at the head of the dugout keeps the ship headed in the right direction.
“Now, we’re playing one of the hottest teams in baseball in Philadelphia,” Showalter cautioned. “Then right into Atlanta, into Philadelphia, into New York. You’ve gotta stay, you know — here’s nine innings, here’s a baseball game, be prepared to do the right thing and see where it takes you.”
Each win during the second half of the season has felt very ho-hum, an execution of what the team should do, rather than what it wants to. If they continue doing this through the Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Subway series, it might just be time to declare the Mets as the scariest team in the league.
That, to quote the iconic soundtrack from The Lizzie McGuire Movie, is what dreams are made of.
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