You must have. It’s impossible that you didn’t feel the excitement coming out of Queens the past two weeks. Even if you weren’t there, it was hard not to feel it emanating out of your TV, radio, or even on the newsstands where the Mets are finally getting coverage over the Yankees.
So the Mets epic 11 game winning streak came to an end Friday. So what? The team bounced right back Saturday behind Matt Harvey. If there has been one thing that the Mets have shown so far this season, it’s been resiliency. It’s a resiliency that hasn’t been seen out of a Mets team in many years.
First, the Mets lost Zack Wheeler and Josh Edgin in spring training, both to Tommy-John. In the three weeks since the season started, David Wright has landed on the DL with a strained hamstring, Jenry Mejia has been suspended for PED use, and both Travis d’Arnaud and Jerry Blevins have suffered fractures. Where Mets teams of the past would let injuries like this derail the train, these 2015 Mets have filled the hole and continued to win.
David Wright is nearly halfway through his DL stint, and no one has really noticed he hasn’t been in the lineup because of the formidable bat of Eric Campbell. Even the loss of Travis d’Arnaud, who was off to a hot, has led to the debut of a top prospect in Kevin Plawecki, who finally showed his offensive strength Saturday. Jeurys Familia has been outstanding in the closer role. Losing Blevins is not an easily replaceable cog, but Alex Torres has shown that he can be a serviceable replacement in the short-term.
The Mets have teased fans before with good Aprils, but this doesn’t feel like a tease; it feels like the real thing. This team may not be as good as they’ve looked the last two weeks, or maybe they are. Either way, Mets fans should be able to enjoy good baseball and a playoff chase this year for the first time in nearly a decade.
It feels like this team is going to get through whatever adversity is thrown their way. This team feels like it could be the Met team fans have been waiting for. These Mets are radiating excitement; don’t you feel it?
