It’s been an interesting first three-quarters of the regular season for the Mets, with fun distractions such as “OMG” and Grimace and idiotic ones such as Hawk Tuah Girl that show until proven otherwise, the Mets are still the Mets.
They can take a step toward legitimacy over the next six weeks.
Because in this final sprint towards the playoffs, the Mets will show who they really are.
After losing their first five games of the year and then storming back to finish April with a winning record, the Mets had a horrific May, going 9-19.The roller coaster continued in June as they went 16-8. July was also good, but getting manhandled last weekend in Seattle and losing a midweek series at Citi Field to the A’s was alarming.
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Winning a series at home against the laughably bad Marlins is all well and good — they squandered their chance for a sweep with Sunday’s lackluster 3-2 loss — but now the real test comes for the Mets.
They finish their current nine-game homestand with a visit from the Orioles, who are battling the Yankees for first place in the AL East.
Fortunately for the Mets, the Orioles aren’t playing their best baseball of the season as they come to Citi Field.They are just 15-14 since the All-Star break.
Then the Mets have to go on a daunting 10-game road trip. Less than two weeks since their last West Coast swing, they travel first to face the Padres for four games and then for three against the Diamondbacks.
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Those NL West teams currently hold the top two spots in the NL wild-card race, so if the Mets (who trail the rival Braves by two games for third wild-card spot) hope to stay in the hunt, they’ll have to play better than they did against the Mariners.
Since falling to .500 on July 19, the Padres (70-55) have rattled off 20 wins in 25 games to challenge the suddenly shaky Dodgers for first place in the NL West.
And the Diamondbacks were even hotter.From two games under .500 on July 9 (45-47), the Diamondbacks (69-56) won 24 of 30 games before getting swept by the Rays this weekend.
But the Diamondbacks also offer a ray of hope to the Mets. Just last year, they snuck into the playoffs at 84-78 following to an uninspiring second half and proceeded to reach the World Series.
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If the Mets can get to October, perhaps Kodai Senga will have recovered from his calf strain to bolster the pitching staff and maybe Luis Severino can pitch like a top-of-the-rotation starter, as he did in Saturday’s complete-game shutout.
The Mets lineup, which re-introduced Starling Marte and got a Brandon Nimmo scare on Sunday, has performed better since their no-show against the Mariners.
Now, three straight series against potential playoff staffs will provide another indication of whether the Mets are legitimate contenders before they get a reprieve by finishing the trip against the historically bad White Sox in Chicago.
Today’s back pages
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The sixth borough for a day
Pretty big day for New York City in Williamsport, Pa. on Sunday.
Staten Island advanced in the Little League World Series in the morning before the Yankees suffered a agonizing loss to the Tigers there in the Little League Classic on Sunday night.
Clay Holmes blew the save in the ninth inning of the 10-inning defeat, and Jasson Dominguez went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in his first big league appearance of the year.
In between the games, the Yankees and Little Leaguers got to mingle.
The South Shore squad from Staten Island is trying to become the first team from New York City to win the LLWS since a representative from the same borough captured the title in 1964.
That year, the Mid-Island team knocked off a team from Mexico to win the championship.
There hasn’t been much glory for New York City squads in the Little League World Series since then.
The biggest headlines probably came in 2001, when a team from The Bronx reached the U.S. title game behind the arm of Danny Almonte, who was later ruled to have been too old to participate.
Giants got that dawg?
Daniel Jones hardly inspired much confidence Saturday in Houston in his first game action since suffering a torn ACL last season.
And though the Giants have little alternative but to go with their sixth-year former first-round pick this season, that changes going into next season if they don’t like what they see in 2024.
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So they will no doubt be like the rest of the football world and will be watching Carson Beck when No. 1 Georgia opens its season against Clemson on Aug. 31.
Some early — very early — mock drafts have the 6-foot-4 fifth-year senior going to the Giants, who aren’t expected to do much this season.
The Giants would have to pay Jones over $41 million next season if he’s still on the team, a hefty sum for a player who has won one playoff game in his career and hasn’t thrown more than 15 touchdowns in a season since his rookie year.
He didn’t find the end zone in Saturday’s preseason contest against the Texans and threw a pair of interceptions, including a pick six.
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The Giants have one more preseason game — against the Jets on Saturday — before their regular season opens Sept. 8 at MetLife Stadium versus the Vikings.
Perhaps by then, the 27-year-old Jones will have knocked off more rust and will show he still might be the answer.
By then, though, the search may already be on for his successor.
Remember him?
On the same day Severino became the first Met to pitch a shutout since Jacob deGrom in 2021, deGrom announced he was ready to begin a rehab assignment with the Rangers.
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DeGrom underwent Tommy John surgery in June 2023, and hasn’t pitched since last April.
He made just six starts after signing a five-year, $185 million contract with the Rangers, who are going to miss the postseason one year after winning the World Series.
What we’re reading 👀
🏈 Jets first-round pick Olu Fashanu is showing his chops with a successful introduction to the right tackle position.
🏀 The Liberty took down the Aces and became the first team to clinch a WNBA playoff berth.
🏀 The 76ers added a breakout Olympics star to the paper battle at the top of the East.
🏀 Caitlin Clark is rolling now.
🥊 Mike Tyson and Jake Paul are still selling the idea that they’ll fight.
🎾 T-minus one week until the U.S. Open, and Jessica Pegula has juice.
⛳ Maybe Hideki Matsuyama should get robbed every week.
🎬 Oh, sorry, you that “The Blind Side” saga was over?
🚴♀️ That’s quite a bike race!
