The Mets these days look like a postseason team in a million different ways, or so it seems, with pitching, defense and heady play to match up with any opponent at any time.
But can they hit enough to make it to October?
They were already pushing the limit lately on finding ways to win, as Carlos Mendoza likes to say, before losing their best player and most consistent hitter, Francisco Lindor, to a back injury that is expected to sideline him for another few days.
Now it seems they’re looking desperately for someone to step forward and help carry the offense across the finish line, or at least until Lindor can get back and/or Mark Vientos can break out of what is suddenly a very nasty slump.
On Monday night it was Jose Iglesias tying the game with a single off the pitcher’s glove in the eighth inning, and Starling Marte smoking a line drive down the left field line for a 10th-inning single, scoring the automatic runner to end the game.
It all made for a dramatic 2-1 win at Citi Field that no doubt stressed Mets fans to the core because, for the longest time, it felt like the failures at the plate were going to wind up being the story of a missed opportunity.
After all, it would have been shame to waste more brilliance from Sean Manaea, who threw seven more dominant innings, a feat that has become practically routine for him. Eight times since July 2 he has gone seven, which is the most such starts in the majors during that time.
His 3.26 ERA doesn’t do justice to how well he has pitched, mostly because he’s given up some late home runs, but there are plenty of other stats that speak to how well he has pitched over his last 10 starts, or about the time he decided to drop his arm slot to channel Chris Sale’s delivery.
Here’s the one I find most impressive: Manaea hasn’t allowed more than four hits in any of his last six starts. That’s simply overmatching hitters every time he goes out there.
“The guy is just unbelievable,” said reliever Reed Garrett in the winning clubhouse Monday night. “He does it every time out.”
On this night it was almost fluky that the Nationals scored one run against him. He got beat twice on off-speed mistake pitches, a hanging changeup for a double by Juan Yepez and then an opposite-field slap single on a 79-mph sweeper that hung in the middle of the plate against lefty-hitting Jose Tena.
“Sometimes I think he still doesn’t know how good he is,” an NL scout told me Monday night after the game about Manaea….