What Bobby Ojeda has liked most about the Mets is their ability to never look ahead.
That should not be a problem this week with crucial matchups at the Braves and Nationals on tap starting tonight.
“The second half is what it’s all about because you have to avoid looking at the finishing line,” the SNY studio analyst and former Mets pitcher said.
“How many years do we hear, well we want to get to .500 and then we’ll take off. That used to drive me nuts, it was nonsense. This team isn’t doing that. They are saying we win today, we’ll see you tomorrow; we lose today, we’ll see you tomorrow anyway. They need to win these early games because they are against these teams.”
Like this season, the Mets have been in the thick of the wild-card race entering the second half only to flame out in July and August and end with sub-.500 seasons. But Ojeda senses a change of culture around these Mets under general manager Sandy Alderson and manager Terry Collins. Unlike last year, this is not surrounded by the constant talk of Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran trades.
“The way this team is constructed is different. There’s no talk of getting rid of people,” Ojeda said. “Mentally they are in a different place. … It starts at the top. I think Sandy has done a fantastic job of coming in here and really getting back to baseball with baseball people making baseball decisions. One of the first decisions Sandy made was to bring in Terry, who is old school. He has values that transcend generations of baseball.”
The Mets are 46-40 at the All-Star break largely due to the MVP-like first half of David Wright and a stunning Cy Young start out of knuckleballer R.A Dickey.
But it’s not as if everything has gone right for this team, picked near-universally to finish dead last in the NL East. For the Mets to make a run at the division or one of the two wild-card spots in the National League they need the first-half underachievers to find their expected form.
“You point right to Ike Davis. Can he find the stroke? People don’t understand, when you miss a year in the big leagues — no matter how talented you are — it takes some time to catch up,” said Ojeda, who also talked about improvements needed from Lucas Duda and Jason Bay to bolster the lineup.
With the Phillies stuck in last place, the NL East has a wide-open feel, but Ojeda said he believes the Mets will have a hard time chasing down the division-leading Nationals and his former manager Davey Johnson.
“I think Washington, it’s their year. They’ve got a great, great manager and I am partial, no question,” said Ojeda, who played under Johnson on the 1986 World Series champion Mets. “They’ve got a solid team over there and they are not going anywhere. … But the two wild cards change everything. That adds the other dimension.”
