What We Learned About the Mets This Weekend

Texas air agrees with the Mets offense.

Let's start off with two things that we did not learn about the Mets this weekend.

The first is that the team still hasn't found its way over .500. They're back at mediocre after two straight wins which means they'll take another whack at getting over the hump when they resume play in Detroit on Tuesday. 

It's tempting to buy into the spirit, energy and suprising performances of this Mets team, but you can't do that until the team has a winning record. Right now they are plucky, we're still holding out hope for overachieving.

The second bit of old news is Jose Reyes. It's hard to be blase about someone as exciting as Reyes, but he's been so good this year that going 6-for-11 with five runs and two steals on Saturday and Sunday barely raises an eyebrow.

Thankfully there was still some new stuff for us to digest while yawning at another MVP weekend for the shortstop.

1. People love to make a big deal about how hard it is to hit home runs at Citi Field, but it seems like a pretty good time to put an end to that tiresome meme. This team can't hit home runs anywhere.

The Rangers' ballpark is a very easy place to hit home runs, the home team had seven this weekend, but the Mets couldn't put one ball into the seats this weekend. That makes the fact that they scored 22 runs in the two weekend wins truly astounding, especially when "cleanup hitter" Jason Bay managed zero hits in the five at-bats he was able to take part in over the weekend.

2. Terry Collins is quite the sportsman. Someone in the umpiring crew had a soft spot for the Mets on Sunday as two big calls incorrectly went their way to help pave the way to an 8-5 victory.

That led to a lot of sniping from the Rangers dugout and the ejection of manager Ron Washington. The umps then gave Collins the choice of a player to eject because the whole dugout was deemed over the line and Collins chose Elvis Andrus, sitting out with a sore wrist, over someone who was actually playing in the game.

3. Jeff Wilpon thinks revenge is a dish best served with a fastball to the ribs. According to ESPN New York, he "chided" the team for not hitting a member of the A's after Justin Turner got plunked on Thursday, seemingly with an implicit commentary about the way he turned into a pitch to win Wednesday night's game.

Amazing how much he's into looking out for people doing wrong when it has nothing to do with his family's money.

4. Jonathon Niese had to leave Saturday's game early because of a rapid heartbeat that seemed to be caused by the dangers inherent in playing outside in an afternoon of Texas heat. The Mets don't seem too concerned as Niese won't get a full cardio workup until Tuesday, so it seems we've learned that they haven't changed all that much when it comes to medical issues with their players.

5. If the Mets are going to make an unlikely run to the playoffs, they're going to have to get past an old friend to do so. Davey Johnson will manage the Nationals for the rest of this season and all of 2012.

Let's see, annual sadsack franchise hires Johnson at the same time as their farm system starts producing high-end talent and their on-field product begins looking acceptable. Where have we seen this play out before?

6. Francisco Rodriguez said last week that he's open to pitching as a setup man if he gets traded to a World Series contender. That news was greeted with enthusiasm by those who don't want to pay him $17.5 million last year, but K-Rod sent a mixed message by again pitching like garbage in a non-save situation on Sunday. 

7. Mets first-round pick Brandon Nimmo learned to hit in a barn that sits behind his family's house in Wyoming. That's not nearly as surprising as the fact that the barn is actually bigger than the house itself and holds no farm equipment.

8. Former Mets outfielder Shawn Green was a popular player with New York's Jewish community during his run with the team, but he's focused on other spiritual concerns these days. Green has written a book about his Zen approach to playing the game and life in general. 

9. This really isn't something that we learned this weekend so much as something we thought while watching David Cone, Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry at Yankees Old-Timer's Day. Why don't the Mets have one of their own?

Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City. You can follow him on Twitter and he is also a contributor to Pro Football Talk.

Copyright FREEL - NBC Local Media
Contact Us