They opened the homestand by beating up the Braves and ended it by choking the Phillies. In between, they overcame the Reds.
The Mets are at the peak of their power. They shut out the Phillies for the final 18 innings of the series while allowing a loaded lineup a total of two runs, albeit without Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper. They went 9-2 in Queens in the last 11 days, hitting five or more carries nine times and allowing two or fewer in eight of those ball games. They’ve gone 17-3 since dropping the top two after the All-Star break.
They are at the peak of their powers.
“That’s a real contender,” said Chris Bassitt after throwing five shutout innings on a day when he was anything but picture-perfect. “There’s no doubt about that.”
Everything seems possible, even if it’s only mid-August. Now, however, the club embarks on a 10-game road trip starting Monday that includes four in Atlanta, four in Philadelphia and two at Yankee Stadium, where the Mets won’t be so much the big game hunt as the hunt.
“We know we’re going to be challenged,” said manager Buck Showalter, whose 75-40 team has a 5 ¹/₂ lead over the Braves. “Let’s line them up, take one at a time and see what happens.
“These guys get it. They take it with a lot of maturity day after day.”
The red-hot Mets are at the peak of their power. Jason scenes
The Mets hit 60 runs on the homestand but only hit 10 home runs. That’s their way. They’re a contact team and when soft ones come along, it’s not necessarily luck, it’s more of a design holdover to get the racquet on the ball. They hit out less than any other team in the NL except Washington.
“Tough bats,” Jeff McNeil said. “Good things happen when you put the ball in play.”
Good things happen when you put the ball in play. Like baserunner. Equally good things happen when you’re vigilant on the base paths. Like stealing runs.
That’s what McNeil did in the fourth inning with four runs that extended the lead to 5-0 against Zack Wheeler and raced the last 90 feet home after initially stopping at third base on James McCann’s RBI flair that went into the short middle but then picked it up again when center fielder Brandon Marsh first rolled over the ball and then, more casually, threw it to second baseman Jean Segura, who wasn’t paying as much attention.
“When you get to third place, the first thing you have to do is find the ball,” McNeil said. “We want to put pressure on the defense and get them to kick us out.”
Bassitt had no immediate orders through this one. He threw strike ones against just 12 of the 21 batters he faced, falling behind 11 of them. But he had enough to extend his streak to 24 straight innings without conceding a deserved run, shutting down the Phils when they were in the fourth inning and then the fifth when there were men on second and second, first and second place no outs had third no outs.
Jeff McNeil celebrates after scoring in the fourth inning. Jason scenes
“He’s not panicking,” Showalter said of the 33-year-old right-hander, who was acquired by Oakland in March in exchange for JT Ginn and Adam Oller. “He’s a professional who enjoys competing. He doesn’t want to let anyone down.”
In the last eight games of that stretch at Citi Field, Mets starting pitchers allowed seven earned runs in 56 ²/₃ innings for a 1.11 ERA. Since Max Scherzer retired from IL on July 5, the rotation’s ERA is 2.10 over the last 35 games.
“It’s no secret how good our pitching team is,” said Bassitt, whose 3.27 ERA accompanies a 10-7 record. “It’s hard to score against us. We have five veterans who are very good and capable of putting up a lot of zeros. It’s like passing the baton.
“That’s what we’re built for.”
Chris Bassitt reacts during the Mets’ win over the Phillies. Jason scenes
Bassitt takes the baton from Jacob deGrom, who takes the baton from Scherzer. That way, Bassitt is the Mets’ Claude Osteen, the left-hander who succeeded Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale in the Dodgers’ rotation in the mid-’60s.
“It’s great. I see greatness every time,” Bassitt said. “I have one of the best seats in the house to watch them.
“Everyone knows Max. Jake is an alien.”
The Mets are out of this world. Now they’re trying to conquer Atlanta, Philadelphia and the Bronx.
“I think we’re very short-sighted,” Bassitt said. “We’re not looking ahead.”
They don’t look back either.