Mets Leap Over .500 With DH Sweep of Marlins

METS 6 - MARLINS 2
METS 5 - MARLINS 4 

The New York Mets are now over .500. For the first time since May 2, the Mets have a winning record after sweeping a double-header from the Miami Marlins at Citi Field Monday evening, thanks in part to a dramatic seventh inning rally in the nightcap.

What makes this Mets turnaround so fascinating is the fact this ball club stood 11 games under .500 as recently at July 12, and hovered between seven or eight games out of a wild card spot.

Since the All-Star Break, the Mets are 17, own baseball best team ERA (post All-Star Break) and are just 2.5 games out of the wild card. Last night’s sweep of the Marlins was good enough to leapfrog the Mets over the San Francisco Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks in the wild card standings.

The Mets are only a half game behind the Milwaukee Brewers and two games back of the St. Louis Cardinals in the standings. Of course this is all about catching Washington and Philadelphia, and the Mets have 12 games left with those two teams.

On Monday the Mets dismantled the Marlins in Game 1 behind seven superb innings from Jacob deGrom. deGrom held the Marlins to just two runs on five hits, while recording eight strikeouts. The former Cy Young award winner is now at .500 on his personal season, 7-7, with a 2.77 ERA.

Offensively, Jeff McNeil got the fun started with a solo blast to left center in the bottom of the first. Later shortstop Amed Rosario put New York back in front on his 12^th homer of the year in the bottom of the third inning to make it 2-1.

deGrom helped his own cause lining a two-run single in the fourth to blow the game open. Pete Alonso and JD Davis added to the lead with an RBI single and sac fly RBI, respectfully to put the Mets up 6-2, as they cruised to the .500 mark.

The nightcap wasn’t as easy.

The game got off to a fast start for the Mets when Conforto drove in a pair on a RBI single to center, but the Marlins stormed back against rookie pitcher Walter Lockett.

Harold Ramirez’s RBI single in the top of the fourth cut the Mets lead to 2-1. Later Bryan Holaday’s solo blast that cleared the left-center field wall tied things up at two. The Marlins would take the lead on former Met Curtis Granderson’s two run double that scored Brian Anderson and Miguel Rojas.

But as has been the case with these Mets of late, they didn’t give in. If this game was played in June or July the Mets would have lost horribly to the Marlins. Not this team. Not anymore.

J.D. Davis led off the bottom of the seventh inning, crushing a 3-2 fastball over the right field wall to cut the Miami lead to 4-3.

Next, Michael Conforto destroyed a 3-2 four-seamer that hung over the plate, and deposited it about 30 rows back into the upper deck of Citi Field, tying the game at four.

Finally Pete Alonso put the cap on the rap, slicing a fastball over the left field wall to put the Mets up 5-4, and sending Citi Field into a tizzy.

The Marlins never recovered as Seth Lugo shut the door over the next two innings to get his second save of the season.

NOTES: While most things in Met-land have been all well and good, there was some bad news on Monday. Robinson Cano suffered a torn right hamstring an MRI revealed. The injury occurred Sunday in Pittsburgh. While surgery is not required, there is no time-table for his return.

There is a chance the veteran second baseman might be done for the season, but the Mets won’t rule out a comeback at some point in September.  

This has been a star-crossed campaign for Cano. He came to New York via trade from Seattle with Edwin Diaz. That trade has been lambasted by Mets fans as one of the worst in franchise history because of Cano’s struggles at the plate, and Diaz’s struggles as the teams’ closer.

Cano struggled for most of the season, but started to catch fire after the All Star Break, batting .289 with six homers and 14 RBI. It is an unfortunate set back for the Mets who would have liked a healthy Cano for the stretch run. When GM Brodie Van Wagenen made the deal for Cano, he did it thinking he would have both Cano and Yoenis Cespedes in the lineup for the last third of the season. 

Instead, he will have neither.

Will be fascinating to see how the Mets move pieces around. Jeff McNeil, who has been relegated to the outfield, is a natural infielder, and it would make sense to see him return to second base.  The waiver trade deadline of August 31 no longer exists in baseball, so the Mets have to hope some one significance gets cut that can help this team.