After awe-inspiring run, Mets have slowly come crashing back to Earth

By James Campbell
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Updated: August 30, 2019

Noah Syndergaard imploded at an inopportune time for the Mets. (Getty Images)

By: James Campbell

“All good things must come to an end.” A phrase we are all too familiar with. These eight words seems to cause dread once they echo into our ear drums. And for the Mets, these words have seemed to have echoed all too well.

After going through what seemed the most improbable turnaround that only a Hollywood movie writer could think of, the season has seem to start crumbling beneath the feet of players and fans of the beloved team.

As of the morning of August 30, the Mets are now only one game above .500, and are 4-6 in their last 10 games. And while every team in every sport has a skid here and there, it couldn’t come at a worse time for the Mets.

Silence of the bats

Over the last seven days, the Mets’ bats have gone silent. While Wilson Ramos has a 22-game hit streak as of this writing, he has only 1 RBI off of 11 hits. And with only five out of 19 players to have at least one at-bat (this includes pitchers) have more than one RBI during the past seven, the silence is deafening. During their incredible winning streak, the Mets were able to string across runs from small ball, and weren’t dependent on the long balls to get runs as they had been in years past. During the last seven, however, the team seems to need the home runs, with J.D. Davis getting his three RBIs off three home runs.

If the team wants to make one last push for a wild card spot, they will have to figure out how to make better contact to start bringing teammates in, as the pitching is doing what they can to hang in there.

Pitching isn’t fully to blame

While the starting pitching has been exactly rock-solid, it hasn’t been completely atrocious either. Although Noah Syndergaard had a rough outing Wednesday against the Cubs (10 runs on three innings of work, of which nine were earned), the other starters haven’t given other teams the chance to completely open the flood gates. deGrom has given his team every chance he can to get the desperately needed wins to be able to knock of the post season door.

Even though he is the only pitcher to have two starts in the past seven days, his numbers have been very impressive. He has allowed only five runs combined and has struck out 20. Wheeler and Stroman both went six innings in their latest starts but gave up multiple runs that the team’s offense seemingly couldn’t respond to.

Warning, steep incline ahead

The entire team is going to have to dig VERY deep to have any chance of seeing October baseball. The Mets have series against the Phillies, Nationals, and Diamondbacks, all of which are currently ahead of them for the two wild card spots. They also have one series left with the Dodgers and Braves, respectively. Both teams have been dominant this season, so it will take everything in the tank for the Mets to have any shot at all.

Fortunately, the Mets also have series against the Rockies, Reds and Marlins (against whom they have a four-game series with). They will need to jump on top of these three to gain any little bit of breathing room.