Shellacking an opponent for 14 runs on 22 hits is not something they expect day in and day out, but the Mets believe the more consistent offense they have produced recently – an MLB leading .798 OPS in the past 30 days – was always something they were capable of this season.
“This is what was envisioned when you put this lineup down on paper,” Brandon Nimmo said after going 3-for-4 with a home run and four RBI in Monday’s 14-2 win over the Texas Rangers.
Francisco Lindor, who continued his torrid pace since landing in the leadoff spot by going 4-for-4, said “Hitting is contagious and it seems like we are in one of those stages where everything is coming our way.”
For Manager Carlos Mendoza, he knew the offense was capable of putting some big games together like Monday’s. "One through nine that’s some really good hitters, now that they’re clicking, we’ll see it."
"We got good hitters," the skipper continued. "The way the guys are preparing, the way they are talking, our game plan, our approaches, our hitting coaches are doing a really good job.
"And just staying positive. We knew at the end of the day we got good players, good hitters. Just trusting our process, preparation and we’ve seen the results now."
The Mets have now won 12 of their last 16 to climb out of a funk that lasted for much of the first third of the season, thanks to steady hitting from J.D. Martinez and Starling Marte and an emerging Lindor. Now the cavalry is arriving in the form of Nimmo, Pete Alonso -- who had three hits and two RBI on Monday -- and Mark Vientos, who also notched three hits on Monday,
"It’s tough throughout the season to get everybody to click all at once, but right now we got a lot of guys from top to bottom putting up great at-bats," Nimmo said. "I just think that you ride that wave for as long as you possibly can.
"We’ve got a lot of veteran guys on the team that understand that that’s not gonna be forever. But, you just try and keep it going for as long as you can."
Nimmo pointed to Martinez for "saving our butts" with a walk-off two-run home run in last Thursday’s 2-1 win over Miami.
"You’re gonna go through these stretches where one guy seems to be carrying the load a little bit," he said. "But then you’re also going to be going through these where it seems like top to bottom we’re clicking on all cylinders."
Lindor said the roll has come about as hitters have tried to stay within themselves at the plate. That was something the Mets did well on Monday when they had a run of eight singles to drive in the game's four runs.
"We just gotta continue to ride it as long as we can, stay consistent, bounce ideas from each other… and then just stay within ourselves," the shortstop said. "Sometimes we try to do a little bit too much, we focus on driving in runs instead of just staying within ourselves and being consistent with our process and our plan and executing it."
Nimmo’s advice is similar, but even more simple.
"You just try and not do too much," he said. "'Cause usually when you start trying to do too much, that’s when things start to go awry."