All that empty space is be tween the Mets’ ears. Wait a second. That didn’t come out exactly right. Let’s try again.
All that empty space in the outfield in front of those forbidding walls that dare not be scaled, that’s what’s between the Mets’ batters ears as they come to the plate in their Grand Canyon of a ballpark in Queens.
Why, before the Mets began this homestand on Monday, manager Terry Collins cited his team’s approach at the plate as a possible explanation of the dreadful 22-26 record in Queens that grew three losses worse before last night’s last-stand, must-win against the Braves.
“I see us changing our offensive approach,” Collins said that night. “I think we take bigger swings and try to hit the ball harder.
“On the road we hit the ball all over. We pull the ball more at home.”
That was before three straight defeats in which they scored a sum of seven runs sent the Mets into last night’s game 22-29 at home, a game under .500 overall and nine in back of Atlanta for the wild card.
That sent the Mets into a must-win game the first week of August.
“The last couple of weeks I’ve seen a lot of 0-1 counts; a lot of pitchers are going right at us,” Collins said. “When you’re facing quality pitchers and they get ahead, you have to hit their pitches. I hear people say you have to work the count, but we have to go after them.”
The Mets went after the Braves all right. Atlanta’s Tommy Hanson fell behind in the count as often as not. The Mets took their cuts, cranked out 16 hits and at least stayed on the margins of the runner-up sweepstakes with an 11-7 victory that stanched the club’s five-game losing streak.
The Mets slugged four home runs for the third time in three years at their new digs that no self-respecting batter does. Justin Turner, who came into the night with two home runs in 306 at bats, hit two more in the first four innings. Jason Bay cracked a homer in the third. Josh Thole crushed one in the fourth on the night the Mets reached 21 times.
“It was one of those nights we got some pitches we could handle and we did some damage,” Collins said when it had ended. “I’d like to see that more, because we don’t do it enough.
“We were aggressive. We looked for something we could handle early and we got it.”
But it wasn’t a case of only long balls last night. For even though the home runs will relieve the psyche, Jose Reyes’ 2-for-4 night that featured singles in the sixth and seventh were essential for the team and the MVP candidate who had left his cape and superpowers behind during his July 3-18 stay on the disabled list.
Even with last night’s 2-for-4, Reyes is batting .259 in 17 games since returning with a .284 on-base pct. plus four stolen bases in five attempts, including swipes of second and third in the fourth inning, just before Turner cracked his second home run of the night to give the Mets a 7-5 edge that five pitchers massaged the rest of the way.
“Jose was so hot for so long I think the two weeks [on the DL] probably did affect him a little bit,” Collins said. “We have to get the routine fly balls he’s been hitting lately to become line drives and ground balls he can beat out.”
There was a walk last night, followed by two stolen bases. There was a line drive hit. There was a base hit up the middle.
“We hit the ball around again, we hit some the other way, and we ran the bases,” Collins said. “We did the things we do when we play well.”
That’s what happens when they use all that space between their ears.
