This Team Has Vibes

The increments are small, and the pace is slow. You don’t want this team peaking in April anyway. But the performance you saw tonight from the Mets should tell you that this team is coming.

David Peterson, having been torched in Philadelphia last week, was excellent against the same team here at Citi Field. (Editor’s note: I almost typed Shea … It’s because I had Mike Pelfrey on the brain because Gary, Keith and Ron interviewed him via phone tonight). Peterson struck out 10 in six innings while only giving up two hits, one of them being a solo HR to Met killer Jean Segura. The Mets gave Peterson a little support by getting to Zack Wheeler in the first inning on three straight hits to start the game culminating in a Dom Smith RBI single and a Pete Alonso RBI double play (yes, I know that doesn’t sound all that exciting.)

Luis Rojas rolled the dice in the 7th, bringing in Jeurys Familia to protect a 2 run lead. Last night he closed out Game 2 of the DH with some good stuff, but gave up a couple of hits in the process. Tonight, it was the leadoff walk that threatened to bite him as JT Realmuto got the free pass, then ended up on third after a groundout and an infield single by Segura. At this point, Rojas dusted off Aaron Loup and took him from the box in the attic to face Didi Gregorius. Most similar circumstances have ended in complete disaster for the Mets.

But on this night, it took Loup two pitches to get Gregorius to bounce into a double play, and then after the Mets got an insurance run in the 7th, Loup took care of the Phillies in 12 pitches, striking out both righties he faced in the inning. A few more innings like that from Loup and hardly anyone will notice that Robert Gsellman has morphed into Alfred Ogilvie.

James McCann had himself a night with three hits, and in the 8th inning he put the cherry on top of the sundae with a two run HR, his first ding-dong as a Met. Edwin Diaz knifed through the order in the ninth, and also found a way to get Met fans excited about his arrival into a game with an entrance song that makes me want to go save the Princess from the clutches of Donkey Kong.

So that’s three out of 11 to continue the parallel winning streak set by the 1986 Mets. With deGrom going tomorrow and the Rockies on the schedule after that, there’s no reason why this win streak can’t go to seven to keep these good vibes going, especially if they’re going to start to get real production from guys like McCann and Loup. Now of course, the forecast calls for steady rain all afternoon tomorrow, but let’s see what the exclusive weather forecaster has to say about that.

Oh … no.

Today’s Hate List

1. Bernie Madoff
2. Sorry, but everybody else …
3. is a distant second tonight.