The Road To The Playoffs Is Paved With Marlins (and Padres and White Sox and Pirates …)

The Mets keep humming along.

A three run home run by Wilson Ramos in the third inning was the cushion that Zack Wheeler needed to cruise through eight innings in a 5-0 victory over the Miami Marlins. The newest streak is now at five straight wins, the two streaks in close proximity mark the current stretch at 12-1. For those scoring at home, that’s one win against the Padres, five wins against the Pirates, three wins against the White Sox, and three wins against the Marlins. The Mets are taking advantage of the absence of strength in their schedule at the current moment.

It’s not a knock. Not every team can do it. And it isn’t like the Mets can choose to schedule the Dodgers for 20 games or Georgia and Boise State to raise their RPI. Teams that have designs on being mediocre … teams such as past Mets teams that have always disappointed against the bad teams … have fallen flat on their faces in search of that plateau (see 2010 for further proof). No matter what happens the rest of the way, give the Mets credit for at least putting themselves in the position to take the next step into the realm of the good to very good.

Wheeler, meanwhile, is starting to look like that pitcher we’d all envision he’d be when he first got to the Mets. 101 pitches got him through eight … and if you remember, 101 pitches used to get Zack through maybe five and a third. Now, there’s 72 strikes in those 101 pitches, and he’s putting the ball pretty much where he wants. Now with a day off coming on Thursday, there’s not as much pressure on Steven Matz to go deep into the Wednesday afternoon game. I mean … pitch good, Steven. But if you want to fire off all your best bullets in six innings, I think the bullpen can take care of the last three.

One more win, and the Mets are at 59-56 … right where they should be if they want to start a run to the Wild Card game against the good teams. An honest to goodness playoff race is close enough to taste now.

Today’s Hate List

This season’s Players Weekend jerseys.