Are the Mets already in playoff mode? You better believe it

NEW YORK – Yes, in America, Pete Alonso has a support cast.

The New York Mets have drawn the country's attention to the number of home runs on the rise of the novice bomber – or even, just a few weeks ago, on the latest calamities and malfunctions. an organization that has stumbled upon itself so many times in recent years. seasons – it's easy to forget that Alonso has help in training and that the rotation is deeper than Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard.

Tuesday's 9-2 win over the Indians has sent the nation's most important homeland since 2016 – nine games against the Indians, Braves and Cubs – in a positive light. They beat a competitor from Cy Young to Shane Bieber, J.D. Davis and Michael Conforto continued their momentum with points at home, and Steven Matz had another quality start, his fourth in five outings.

"Beat Shane Bieber in the first game to launch this competition, give energy to the fans, get in a good position to win a series against these guys, that's what we decided to do today." 39, "said Conforto. "We know we have a tough race ahead of us, but we take it from day to day and try to win every day, so it was a good team win."

When the Mets won 15 of 16 between late July and early August, they did it against a weak point on the calendar – two sets against the pirates, the White Sox and the Marlins. Their next eight sets, which lead the team to the last two weeks of the regular season, are against teams that started the day with a .500 or higher performance.

The Mets know this homeland is the biggest test of the season and maybe even nine must-see games for a team that has climbed the National League's worst record at 46-55 and eight games out of contention. wild state. card from July 24 to 65-60 and two games on the second place of wild card.

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"I think we all knew that even though we are in August, the playoffs have started today," Davis said. "We have to have this playoff mentality, this playoff atmosphere, that every game counts, especially with the hole in which we dug in. I think the elephant in the room is we have a lot of home games but a lot of games against the playoffs teams. "

These are all home games that give Mets fans the hope that this season could turn into another miraculous season – like the one that took place 50 years ago when the Mets disputed 10 games on August 13 and that they won the World Series or "Ya Gotta Believe" of 1973, which jumped to 11.5 on August 5 and won the NL pennant. Heck, given these settings, do not exclude a NL East title in 2019.

By beating Cleveland, the Mets improved to 35-21 at home against 30-39 on the road, but as Davis has mentioned, this means that 25 of their last 37 matches are played at Citi Field.

Davis is one of the reasons why the Mets have so much better play at home. He strikes .390 / .454 / .732 at Citi Field and .258 / .316 / .376 on the road. Lately, however, he has hit everywhere. Since the break of the stars, he has been the leader of the NHL batters with at least 100 appearances at batting average (.380) and OPS (1,069). Amed Rosario is not far behind, ranking second in batting average (.371) and in the top 25 in OPS. Conforto, meanwhile, hit .290 in 33 games with 11 home runs and 31 RBIs.

Davis's production has been huge, especially in the absence of All-Star Jeff McNeil, who has been out for a week with a thigh injury, and Brandon Nimmo, who has been out since mid-May with a disc problem around his neck. (Nimmo played in the center of Triple-A Syracuse Tuesday, his third re-education match, in order to be able to return soon.) The Mets acquired Davis from the Astros on January 6 in the hope of helping out the bench. replacements. in a little at the third base or the first base. Ten days later, however, the club signed Jed Lowrie, and Davis was not even sure he was on the list. Lowrie's injury during the spring training led the way and Davis started the squad season against the left-handed, but the various injuries allowed him to play for the first time in the majors.

Against Bieber, he climbed into the bottom of the second with Cleveland 1-0 and crushed a 0-1 slider in the black background that strikes in the central field, a 109.9-mph rocket that ran 447 feet .

"The screening report was supposed to attack it early," Davis said. "He kicked early in the count, and in that clash, I was aggressive with the 0-0 fastball, and then he got on the speed field, and we got it. was his first time out of the stretch, and he left one on the plate. "

This was one of Bieber's rare mistakes, receiver Roberto Perez settling on the outside, but right-hander All-Star remained suspended. The Conforto home race took place in the sixth inning with two outs and the match was tied 2-2. He should not have hit in first place as the left-wing Indian player Oscar Mercado had dropped Joe Panik's routine flight into the shallow left field. The Mets took advantage of this extra exit and Conforto launched a slider down a distance of 388 feet in the center right.

Yes, it was good. "Especially in this situation against a good beginner who has me several times earlier in the game," said Conforto. He narrowly missed a home run with a long foul ball earlier in the attack. "I felt like a pretty good swing on that fastball.I was actually at the hour on that fastball, so I felt more comfortable than my opponent after the ball. to have seen twice and the action on his grounds.

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"We had the impression, during this race, that we might not be able to get them the first time," said Conforto, "but our alignment has been so good that our hitters have been able to understand how to get on the base, to find ways to get points, we think that no matter who launches, we will put a lot of points on the board, and every time the defense gives us such an opportunity, we you have to enjoy it, so it was huge. "

Indeed, while they go 19-5 since July 25, the Mets have a score of .283 / .351 / .481 and an average of 5.75 points per game. The pitch was also great, averaging 3.24 years – the best among the majors of this period. Matz allowed only one deserved point – a Jason Kipnis scored 6⅓ innings and six of his seven goals back were looking for. He is 3-1 with a 2.56 ERA in his last five starts, a 30-6 win and a single run.

The two biggest strikers of the match, however, came from Justin Wilson, who raised Matz to seventh with a lead of two, three and one with a 4-2 lead and fired Francisco Lindor on three tailors and Mercado on a slider 1-2.

The offensive beats big bats, the rotation is at the rendezvous, the pen has calmed down a little and McNeil and Nimmo will eventually come back. A month ago, the Mets were a joke. Now, this is not a joke that they are in dispute for the playoffs.

As the supporters of the Mets who started the wave late in Tuesday's game would attest, you have to believe it.