Right in the middle of last night’s Mets-Braves games, the SNY cameras cut to shot of a fast-moving object in the night sky that Keith Hernandez identified as the Space Station. It was visible here to in Bethlehem too, a kind of mechanical Halley’s Comet. That celestial body has been known as a harbinger of major events. The poet in me wonders if this flyover might have a similar portent for our orange and blue heroes. BTW Halley’s last appearance was–wait for it, 1986.

Meanwhile, back on earth, the extra-terrestrials that currently inhabit Mets uniforms laid a 7-1 beating on the deflated-looking Atlanta Braves. I know it is only April, but I felt this was a huge game for the Mets to win, coming off the devastating news of the Travis d’Arnaud and Jerry Blevins injuries on Sunday. A series loss now, especially right before the initial Subway Series set with the Yanks, would have started the speculation that injuries have finally caught up with the Mets.

Instead, Kevin Plawecki and Alex Torres filled in nicely for their two injured counterparts. Plawecki had two hits and Torres struck out Met-killer Freddie Freeman to snuff out the last hope for Atlanta. Curtis Granderson had four RBI and winning pitcher Jon Niese lowered his ERA to 1.50.

We haven’t had much to cheer about recently, so I am thoroughly enjoying this streak. I humbly submit that you all just take this in and ride it for as long as it lasts. I haven’t felt this good about the Mets in quite a while and I am crossing my fingers that maybe, just maybe this is the start of an upswing. I still think we will be hearing from the Washington Nationals, but the rest of the division looks to be buried already. Philadelphia is a last-place team, Miami may have some better players than the Mets but their lack of depth has hurt them badly. (Speaking of depth, Dilson Herrera is certainly making a case for a promotion). Atlanta looks like an incomplete collection of parts. I haven’t seen enough of the rest of the NL yet to get a real sense of who is a contender or not. But perhaps the dreams of contention and the much-maligned meaningful games in September is a reality for us this year.

One game at a time, I know. How about you? What has been your impression so far?

Mets 7 Marlins 6

As SNY’s Gary Cohen told us that Buddy Caryle “bent but didn’t break” at the end of the eighth to preserve the eventual 7-6 win, it was hard not to wince. The Marlins couldn’t beat the Mets in a single game but they managed to break a couple of them. Continue reading →