What have you done for us lately, New York Mets? The team has been one of baseball’s most consistent clubs all year long. They begin July cemented as one of the top contenders in the National League. What more must they do to prove themselves to the public?
Dropping four out of four games to the Houston Astros didn’t help them in July. But that’s hardly enough to get concerned. Astros fans would be going nuts if they lost four games to a team—even one at the Mets’ level.
So what must the Mets do this month to prove they are for real?
1) NY Mets need to annihilate a very good team on the road
The Mets schedule doesn’t feature all that many truly good teams on it any longer. In fact, most of the better teams they do play takes place at Citi Field. The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres still come to town. Away from Flushing, they don’t have all that many tough opponents.
The Mets already managed to split their series in Los Angeles and take one out of three versus the Padres down in Southern California. They had the same result when they played the San Francisco Giants earlier this year.
If there is one situation the Mets have yet to master, it’s the road game versus a good team. They haven’t been complete dogs away from Citi Field. But they also haven’t been barnstormers ready to kick down whoever it is they play.
In the handful of games against good teams they have on the road for the remainder of the year, the Mets need to at least come away with one dominating performance. Maybe then the few that haven’t bought in will pay up.