NEW YORK — A year ago, after 43 games, the New York Mets sat in second place in the National League East, trailing the Washington Nationals. They were in the midst of a May in which only two teams scored fewer runs. Their captain, third baseman David Wright, was on that very day diagnosed with a back condition that would keep him out most of the summer. Their ace, Matt Harvey, was about to embark on a four-start stretch in which his ERA was 7.20.
So Terry Collins — 66 years old, nearly half a century in the game — can manage the current Mets’ situation with the prescribed patience.
“I got to tell you: At my age now, it’s pretty easy,” the Mets’ manager said. “Twenty-five years ago, I’d be knocking that wall down. But … I’m real familiar with what we went through last year in the month of May. And I think that the patience that our coaches had and I had and the players had in their own abilities paid off.”
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As they land in Washington for their second series of the season against the rival Nationals, the Mets are not the finest version of themselves. No team has scored fewer runs this month. Wright’s back is at times debilitating, and though he can play, he is striking out in a third of his plate appearances, just one indication that he’s scarcely himself. And Harvey is a debacle, his ERA at 5.77, allowing more walks and hits per inning pitched than all but one other National League starter.
And yet, after dropping two of three to the Nationals last week in Queens, the Mets swept Milwaukee over the weekend. Their record through 43 games in 2015: 24-19, trailing the Nats by 1 1/2 games. Their record through 43 this year: 25-18, trailing the Nats by 1 1/2 games.
“I know it’s a great story to panic and to scream and holler and kick [stuff] over,” Collins said. “I’m probably not going to do that. I’m probably going to maintain my composure and my confidence in my players that I have.”
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The Mets can afford such confidence because, unlike a year ago, they have been through it. Last year at this time, Noah Syndergaard had made just three big league starts. At the moment, he is New York’s most consistent and dominant starter, one with four postseason appearances to his credit as well, coming off seven innings in which he didn’t allow an earned run Sunday against the Brewers. Last year at this time, outfielder Michael Conforto was still a week away from being promoted to Class AA, not yet on the major league radar. Now, he frequently hits third and would be the Mets’ best offensive player if not for outfielder Yoenis Cespedes — who last year at this time was a Detroit Tiger.
“That all helps in understanding the amount of work needed to be put in both off the field and during the season to get to where you want to be, while at the same time realizing how difficult it is to get there,” right fielder Curtis Granderson said. “When you’ve gone through it before, you understand you’re going to have some battles, some ups and downs, and you have to continue to stay confident with it and trust who we have, the system we have, buy into it — and things can work themselves out.”
Many of these Mets have a better idea of how to work themselves out now. Though there are fundamental differences in personnel –- an entirely different middle infield, with veterans Asdrubal Cabrera and Neil Walker replacing a combination of Ruben Tejada and Wilmer Flores at shortstop and Daniel Murphy (now a Nat) at second — the core of the Mets endured last summer’s ride. Then, they were just two games over .500 after 102 games and still transforming as a team. This year, what’s expected to be the team is already here, and that has a calming effect, the Mets say.
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“Last year it was a different feel just because I had just achieved a lifelong dream, and it felt like that fairytale type of year,” Conforto said. “I come up, we get a couple guys at the trade deadline, Cespedes comes over, and we run away with the NL East. It was just a whirlwind. … This year is definitely a more kind of — I don’t want to say relaxed — but maybe a more normal type of a start to the year.”
The normal, for now, includes a few problems. The Mets are trying to manage Wright’s back issues by not playing him more than three days in a row, which means he’ll sit one game in Washington. He is also hitting just .224 and can’t put the bat on the ball regularly. Harvey is due to pitch Tuesday’s game, but he does so coming off the shortest start of his career — 2 2/3 innings on Thursday night against the Nationals, who touched him for nine runs (six earned).
And the lineup, for the moment, is mediocre. Cespedes, who already has 14 homers, and Conforto, who hit his eighth Sunday, are exceptions. But the average non-pitcher in the National League currently has a .748 on-base-plus-slugging percentage. Check out the numbers of so many Mets regulars: Granderson at .716, Wright at .742, Cabrera at .706, Lucas Duda at .727, Kevin Plawecki at .591 (a replacement for regular catcher Travis d’Arnaud, who was at .549 before getting hurt).
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Such numbers don’t fit the expectations around this team — internally or externally.
“I think we’re kind of built to go back to the playoffs and go back to do some really great things,” Conforto said.
So does Collins, who has been through this not just last year, but in different versions and different positions throughout his career. Sure, there are problems. But the Mets have strengths, too, and faith from their manager is among them.
“I think we’re pretty good,” he said. “And eventually, that cream rises. So we’re going to go with that.”
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