MATZ, METS ROCKED
Wheeler wants to prove Mets are winners, but Matz rocked by Rocks.
DENVER — Zack Wheeler won’t let it become pressure in his own mind. The Mets right hander, however, knows he will feel the urgency that is creeping through the clubhouse when he takes the mound Friday night at Citi Field against the Dodgers.
“We have to win some games,” Wheeler said. “They have some decisions to make up there (in the front office). We have to go out there and prove to them that we are a team worth keeping together, a team they will go out and get some help for.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a pressure in here, because everyone in here is playing as hard as they can,” Wheeler added. “But we need to win as many games as we can now.”
There was a growing sense of reality in the visiting clubhouse at Coors Field as the Mets packed up after a 10-game road trip Thursday, returning to Flushing without much to show for it. The Mets dropped the series finale to the Rockies 6-4 at Coors Field and limp home on a three-game losing streak.
They went 3-7 on the trip.
The Mets head back to the east coast 111⁄2 games behind the Braves in the National League East and for the second time on the road trip they dropped back to 10 games below .500, a staggering number when you look at the calendar and see it’s still June.
“Ten games? That’s not good, especially heading into July,” veteran infielder Jose Reyes said. “We know there is a lot of baseball left, but it’s almost July. We have to start winning some games. I don’t know what will happen (with the front office), but we have to win games.
“And we have to start soon.”
This was an important road trip for first-year manager Mickey Callaway and the Mets.
They needed to show they had a chance to make this season count and it isn’t time for a rebuild.
Instead, they only proved that this team has not yet meshed under their new manager.
He continued to project a positive outlook Thursday, pointing out that the Mets have started to swing the bats better in the last few days at the hitterfriendly Coors Field.
But the Mets cannot seem to put pitching, defense and hitting all together consistently.
“There is no magic pill or magic wand to make everything sync up at the same time,” Callaway said. “I think that’s the tale of our season so far. Even when we aren’t winning games, there is a part of us that is still going good. We’re just having trouble to have all those things sync up so we can get on a good run again.”
That 11-1 start to the beginning of the season seems like it was ages ago. The Mets became the fastest team to go from 10games above .500 to 10 games below in major league history last week when they first hit the mark.
But, despite the negative history this team is making, veteran third baseman Todd Frazier feels there is never a point that the Mets should be thinking about a rebuild.
“I am a fan of guys who have been there before, I am a fan of the pitching staff we have, I am a fan of the guys we have coming up and the guys we’ve been playing with. It’s just a matter of winning games,” Frazier said. “You don’t trade guys like Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard or Zack Wheeler, to name three off the top of my head that everyone is talking about. Those are top-ofthe-line pitchers that you want on your team for the rest of their careers.
“Eventually things will turn as hitters and we’ll get more wins for them.”
But with the calendar quickly approaching July, Frazier and the Mets are running out of time.
As much as the Mets have preached process and culture changes that will result in long-term winning, the numbers really do matter.
Callaway’s boss, Sandy Alderson, emphasized that the last time he had a press conference at Citi Field. He bristled at the negative coverage of a team that had gone 8-8 in their last 16 games.
Well, since he made that statement, the Mets have gone 4-15.
“You don’t worry about the record,” Callaway said of returning to Citi Field 31-41.
“You worry about how you’re doing your thing every day and how you are playing the game. We’ll start synching everything up.”
But, as the players in the clubhouse know all too well, time is running out on the Mets.