Suddenly Surging Mets Sweep Marlins for 13th Win in 14 Games

The New York Mets were having a typical Mets season, with a 40-51 record after losing to Miami on July 12th. Then they started winning. Since that loss, they are 19-5. On August 8th, the Mets got a pair of homers from Michael Conforto, and two run homers from Pete Alonzo and Jeff McNeil as New York beat those same Marlins 7-2. It was a four game sweep for the Mets, and their 13th win in their last 14 games.

New York improved to 59-56 on the season, and while the Mets still trail Atlanta by 8 1/2 games in the N.L East, they have moved to within one game of a Wild Card berth, in a crowded field where eight teams are within 4 1/2 games of each other. Two of those, Washington and Philadelphia, are in front of the Mets and are the current leaders in the Wild Card race. The Mets will have some opportunities to help themselves; they have six games left with Washington (including a three game set August 9-11 at home) and six left with Philadelphia. If they want to think big, they’ve got nine left with Atlanta.

The Mets, of course, have a some great starting pitching, that is, when everyone is healthy, which doesn’t happen all that often but they’ve not been hit as bad with the injury bug as in recent seasons. They also added Marcus Stoman in a trade deadline deal with Toronto. The problem has been the lack of offense to support that pitching, as starter Jacob DeGrom saw all too often last year when he put up great strikeout and ERA numbers only to finish with a 10-9 record. Recognizing the lack of offense, he was still chosen as the N.L. Cy Young Award winner.

This year, they’re starting to put some runs on the board. Lead off hitter Jeff McNeil is hitting .339 with a .407 on base percentage, 15 homers and 52 RBIs. Rookie of the Year candidate Pete Alonzo has cooled off a bit since his early torrid pace, but is hitting .260 with 37 homers and 83 RBIs. Michael Conforto has 25 homers and 64 RBIs. The Mets are right about in the middle of the league in most offensive categories; they were in the bottom half of the league in everything last year. And with the great pitching they have, this is enough of an improvement to keep them in contention; at this point last year, they were planning winter vacations.

Conforto’s home runs were the 100th and 101st of his career: