The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
In lost season, Mets must look forward
It was something.
A small glimmer of hope to take with them on a long flight to Toronto.
Todd Frazier heard Dom Smith say it across the room and so he shouted it out to the rest of the clubhouse.
“The hottest team in July,” Frazier repeated with a laugh.
After a brutal first-half of the season, all that Frazier and the Mets can do now is move forward.
With the team in position to begin selling off later this month, their lofty spring goals of contending in the playoffs are effectively out of the picture.
Instead of focusing on what went wrong after an 11-1 start that ended with a brutal 5-21 record in June, the Mets wanted to turn the page on a first-half that began with such hope and expectations but has fallen into one of the worst stretches in franchise history.
The Mets salvaged a small piece of dignity Sunday, beating the Marlins 5-2 to avoid tying the worst first-half record in team history, set during the strike-shortened 1995 season.
After 81 games, the Mets head to Canada with a 33-48 record.
“It’s not where we want to be,” Frazier said struggling for answers. “But we’ve got to look forward. We’re still missing some guys . it’s one of those things, if you’re going good, you keep on doing what you are doing. If you are not, today was a good start. July 1, we got our first win (of July), hopefully that kick starts us.
“I know I keep saying it,” Frazier added sheepishly, “but with a day off coming up, we’re going to have a get together as a team later, just have some fun. Hopefully this is our wake up call.”
First-year Mets manager Mickey Callaway said the first 81 games of this season have been a learning experience. He came in preaching he would change the culture of the franchise, which has obviously been harder than he imagined.
“The hottest team in July.”
“We learned a lot, we learned a lot about each other. When we ultimately get to where we want to get someday, these times are going to be very valuable to reflect on and learn from,” Callaway said. “We’d rather be winning games, but what has already happened has happened, we’re going to learn from it and move forward and do the best we can to win a game today and moving forward.”
Callaway said there have been small steps forward that will benefit the Mets in the long run.
He pointed to Amed Rosario, who came up as a free swinging prospect, drawing three walks in Saturday night’s game. And Steven Matz, who on Sunday didn’t letting three errors - including his own which led to the Marlins’ first run - and a stolen base rattle him like it would in the past.
“It’s big,” said Matz of getting over those mental hurdles. “I struggled with that early on in the season. When stuff starts to go out there and snowball on me so now I talk to Dave (Eiland) about that it’s a big step for me. Been working on pitching in those situations when things don’t go well for me.”
But Callaway admitted that the first 81 games of his big league managing career have been a challenge for him.
“It’s the first really rough patch I’ve been through in my professional coaching career as far as wins and losses. I am learning a little bit about that and what it takes to deal with that,” Callaway said. “It’s something that you can’t be prepared for. This is kind of a stretch not many teams go through. Just have to keep on plugging along.”
Callaway feels he is still getting energy and effort from his team and thinks the consistent approach will help to create a culture shift that will result in long-term results.
“We have to continue to change the things that need to be changed, so we’re putting ourselves in position when we start winning we can sustain it,” Callaway said. “Not just go 11-1 and not be very good again. We have to put things in place where we can go 11-1 and continue to 6-4, 5-4, 5-5 and just stay the course and be a good team consistently and not just a flash in the pan for two weeks.”
There is no do overs or looking back. The Mets head into the second half of the season with a potential firesale looming, just hopeful it will be better than a disastrous first half.