Despite all the mayhem, Amazin’s find themselves in playoff race
GET READY for a potentially wild September. The final full month of the MLB schedule begins Thursday, with the Met sin exponentially better shape than they could have envisioned two weeks ago — when they were pounded by the Giants on a Friday night in San Francisco and fell two games below . 500.
With most of the 33,471 fans at Citi Field on their feet in the eighth inning Wednesday night, Kelly Johnson ushered out August’s dog days with a line drive over first base that went for a go-ahead, three-run double in the Mets’ 5-2 victory over the Marlins.
At that precise moment, the out-of-town scoreboard attached to the left-field roof showed the Cardinals in the sixth inning at Milwaukee and losing. Within the hour that game was complete (the Brewers won, 3-1), and the Mets had moved within 1 1/2 games of the Cardinals for the NL’s second wild-card berth. So in less than a week, the Mets effectively had made up three games on the Cardinals and were on the radar for Postseason 2016.
“There is nothing like coming to the ballpark in the big leagues in the month of September in a pennant race,” manager Terry Collins said. “There is nothing like it. The energy level picks up and I’m really proud of what job they have done.”
These Mets are imperfect, and more so by the day. The latest bombshell came after the game, when Collins announced Neil Walker “probably” is headed to surgery for a herniated disk in his back that would end the veteran second baseman’s season.
A day earlier, it was Steven Matz scratched from hi s planned Thursday comeback to the rotation because of lingering discomfort in his left shoulder. The way things have gone with injuries for the Mets, you almost expect the announcement any day that the rookie lefty will be shut down for the season.
The Mets only can absorb the
blows with a “Thank you, sir, may I have another” mentality.
The two players who f igure to divide Walker’s playing time, Johnson and Wilmer Flores, drove in all five runs on Wednesday. It was Flores’ two-run homer against Jake Esch in the second inning that gave the Mets their offense until Johnson could deliver.
“We’ve got a good schedule, and winning these games, I would like to think we sweep them [Thursday] and we’ll see what it looks like going in,” Johnson said. “The last month is fun, and it’s going to be nice to be in the middle of it, but there are so many variables that are out of your control, all you can do is win games.”
The Mets were so deflated three weeks ago that Collins felt the need to hold a postgame meeting after his team was swept three games by the awful Diamondbacks at Citi. On Wednesday, the manager was in the clubhouse again after the game, but this time with a sweeter message.
“I took 30 seconds and told them how proud I am that they hung in there,” Collins said. “Through all the midsummer, through all the injuries, all the different things that have happened, they have hung in there and heading into this last month we’re in a race.”
Jose Reyes may have appeared mortal, with a two-error game in the middle of a torrid stretch at the plate, but the veteran infielder has joined Yoenis Cespedes and Asdrubal Cabrera as a central fig- ure in this latest surge.
But like last season, when the Mets sprinted to the NL East title, contributions are coming from all angles. That has meant Flores, batting .333 during a nine-game hitting streak, and Johnson, the veteran utilityman who has four pinch-hit homers for the Mets this season.
It’s Sept. 1 and the Mets have a legitimate shot at returning to the postseason. That’s a pretty wild thought.