Record In August: 10-19

Well, that month sure was something.

First of all, I don’t know if my numbers are off from the official stat-keeping of Major League Baseball - technically one of the wins I’m counting as an August win might actually be an April win, because it was the completion of the suspended game with the Marlins from April 11. (That’s why their streak in the standings there is just a W3 instead of a W4.)

But I’m counting it as an August win because if the Mets manage to do anything in September it is because of the momentum from that win at the end of August.

(Although, true to form from the whole season, any immediate momentum from a big couple of wins on Tuesday was dashed by a weather problem on Wednesday. So here we are on September 2nd…sorry I didn’t post this yesterday. It’s been busy. Haha. Imagine if I was still trying to do this every day? What a nightmare that would have been with this team.)

So, August. Where do we even begin?

Well, maybe at the beginning, when the Mets gave us a hint at what was to come when they dropped three of four to the Marlins with many much more difficult games on the horizon. The Mets proceeded to get swept by Philadelphia, bounced back briefly against the Nationals, then got their lunch handed to them by the Dodgers and Giants in consecutive home stands and road trips against both teams.

But if you thought the struggles were limited to on-the-field issues, well, you have another thought coming.

There was Steve Cohen, the owner, on August 18th calling out the hitters and the team’s hitting approach.

There was bad news after bad news on Jacob deGrom’s injury.

There was the absolute lack of hitting….which I guess is implied by the Cohen situation.

And then there was Javier Baez and the thumbs down, which at least led to a pretty popular tweet on my part.

Here’s the sad thing about the booing situation - I tend not to boo the Mets. But fans are going to boo and players need to deal with it. Whatever. The bigger issue the Mets should be concerned about? I didn’t watch a lot of Mets baseball in August. They weren’t worth staying awake for when they were playing the late west coast starts. And then when they were back in the eastern time zone I decided I had better things to do than watch them struggle.

That’s worse than booing, if you ask me.

That’s where I’m at with the Jets, which is not a good place to be - I no longer seek them out and only watch when it’s convenient. They have never justified me spending a bunch of money - either on the Sunday Ticket or a bar all day on a Sunday - to watch them play.

But then I made the mistake of watching Tuesday. I just needed to veg out Tuesday afternoon, so I turned on the game and watched the late innings of the suspended game’s completion - basically what I thought would be the end of a 5-1 loss.

The Mets rallied and won, 6-5, with the winning run scoring on a huge hustle play by Baez.

Then they won the nightcap.

So now, as the Braves finish up a series in which they struggled in Los Angeles, I’m believing again, just a tiny bit.

Would I bet anything on the Mets making a run.

No, not necessarily.

Would I expect them to do any damage in the post-season if they were to make it?

No, they haven’t shown me that’s remotely possible.

But could an exciting month of September change all that?

Yup.

This is my burden. I am an optimistic Mets fan.

We’ll see what the next month brings.

August was a disaster after the Mets struggled against the Marlins.

Maybe a good series against the Marlins will spur a September revival.