It has been well documented by now, that the New York Mets are red hot.
In fact, the hottest they have been in recent memory. They have steamrolled past potential predicted playoff teams such as: the Los Angeles Dodgers without their biggest bat, Manny Ramirez, the Atlanta Braves, whose strong pitching was torn to shreds by the Mets offense, and the Chicago Cubs whose bats have gone cold. The teams that will no doubt begin to make some noise in the summer, but are off to average starts.
The feelings that have been brewing among the New York Mets fan base, are those of optimism, hope and pride. It is a team that has responded to such feelings with a winning streak the likes of which have not been seen in the Mets Nation for many years. The team has gelled together with a fusion of youth, energy and execution. They have forced mistakes and have taken advantage of those mistakes by the opposition.
The optimism has swelled to enormous levels in the surrounding areas of the fans that follow them. Despite such volume of emotion raging across the northeast, there still are mountains that must be overcome before they truly find success and hope to be able to move on from past failures. One such mountain will be confronting them this weekend, in the form of the Philadelphia Phillies.
Along with the Phillies come the many skeletons in the closet, caused both indirectly and directly because of the Phillies. We can take a brief trip into the not so distant past. Let us remember the collapse of monumental proportions in September of 2007.
Then again, in 2008.
These are both seasons that began and continued with optimism and confidence. So much so, that the players were declaring themselves the team to beat in two consecutive seasons. As the seasons unfolded, we found those players to be wrong. They had an unjustified swagger.
They were coming off of consecutive collapses and to make matters worse, the team that leapfrogged them both times, these Philadelphia Phillies, won that World Series in that span. They were also the National League Champions last season before being thwarted in their attempt for back to back titles at the hands of the other main Mets rival, the New York Yankees.
Last season still must haunt the minds of the fan base and players alike. It was riddled with injury and disheartening lack of execution. Both bad luck and bad play were the main proponents to a season that was in one word, forgettable. It is, however a season, that can not be forgotten. Though we would like to just dismiss it as unfortunate misfortune, it was an opportunity to truly see the team's weaknesses and shortcomings exposed.
With such exposures come the opportunities to fix them and strengthen the team further. We are seeing, with this hot streak the patchwork of a bad season come to fruition. We are seeing how the organization was able to take a bad circumstance and make it a valuable experience. Now, the depth of this team is stronger and the core group of it is almost as strong.
That same core group and young players that have brought such a spark of energy and aggressiveness are going to be truly tested. The Phillies are a team with strong offense, especially in their own ballpark. They have a decent starting rotation. Many will say they have a great rotation led by their ace Roy Halladay, but I am prone to disagree.
When they traded Cliff Lee, they traded one ace for another, not one ace for two. The rotation is slightly better than last season, but not much better. It is formidable when he is on the mound, but the rest of the rotation appears much like that of the Mets. It is average and questionable with one ace, one standout, one veteran, one inconsistent and one rookie.
Just like the Mets.
Not much of a difference when matching up the rotations, but playing in Philadelphia, the offense is a different comparison. From top to bottom, they are loaded and the Mets are hot, but streaks do turn bad while solid lineups in small ballparks usually do not. The real factors in this series will be the bullpens.
The Philadelphia bullpen is unhealthy and at times inconsistent thus far, while the Mets have been solid as of late. With an extra day off, they will also be extra rested. This test is one of importance. Should they lose the series, they may lose confidence and momentum, as well as bragging rights. If they find a way to win the series, it could bolster them to a level of confidence that this team has not had in several years.
They would have bragging rights and as small of a door prize as that sounds, it is significant. When a team feels that they play a specific team better than others, they do. When they think they 'own' a team, they do. That confidence and that optimism pays off in the mind of the athlete. It eventually causes doubt in the minds of the teams that are on the worse side of the optimism.
For several years now, the Mets have been owned by the Phillies. If the Mets can own them, instead of the other way around as past seasons have shown, it could be the beginning of the turn around that all fans have been awaiting. That could catapult them to greatness again.
Tests are essential and are indicative of where a team is at any given time. The Phillies are a benchmark team to the Mets. A team that they can compare themselves to and see what they could be. If they pass the test this weekend, it could be monumental. Fans, media and players alike will all be able to point back to this weekend series and proclaim that this was the weekend that the Mets returned to prominence.
If they do not pass this test, it may very well be the continuation of a downward spiral of mediocrity that they have experienced in the past years. I, for one, am hoping that they pass that test with flying colors of blue and orange.
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