But, Boone being Boone, generally a positive guy, he also said, and it’s true: “For as bad as it’s been, we’re also in a great position. (But) we’ve got to go play baseball the way we’re capable of playing.”
Like the way the Mets are playing.
On Tuesday, the Mets won a taut game in which a struggling, often wild reliever, Jake Diekman, struck out Aaron Judge in a key moment after Carlos Mendoza had the guts to have Diekman pitch to him. Wednesday, the Mets just bludgeoned Gerrit Cole – yes, again – tagging him for three of the five home runs they hit in the game.
Cole has given up nine home runs this year. The Mets have hit seven of them in two games. Cole, one of the best pitchers in baseball, has pitched to an 11.17 ERA against the Mets this season.
The Mets got two homers from Francisco Lindor, a revelation since Mendoza shifted him to the leadoff spot earlier in the season. And one from Pete Alonso, whom the Mets need to catch fire over the second half following a lukewarm first half. They even got a huge game from Tyrone Taylor, a part-timer who slammed a homer among his three hits and made two nice catches in center field.
There’s more.
Mark Vientos, their emerging third baseman, clouted his 13th homer. Jeff McNeil, little help to the offense earlier this season, was robbed of a homer, but hit two doubles and has eight extra-base hits over his last nine games. At the Stadium this week, it was all coming up Mets. They earned it.
“It’s not an easy ballpark to come in and take two from a good team,” Mendoza said. “Yeah, it says a lot about this group.”
The Mets, who beat the Yanks all four times they met this year, are 29-13 over their past 42 games. These players have done enough that the Mets front office must look to enhance the bullpen, a potential trouble spot, before the MLB Trade Deadline on July 30, and give them a chance to not only reach the postseason but be a squad to be reckoned with once there.
The Yankees, meanwhile, have their own adding to do. They need help in their lineup – boy, was Luis Severino ever right when he said the Yanks were a two-man offense right now – bullpen mending and perhaps more. There’s something left in their clubhouse, isn’t there?
It sounds nuts now, but they were once 50-22. But unless they re-make the roster and then rebound, it’s hard to have any confidence in them as a potential October force.
Asked why he thought the Yanks could get right, Cole said, “I think we have a lot of talent in the room. I do think we know how to play good baseball. I think we’re capable of playing good baseball.
“So those are the reasons.”
Fair enough. Maybe he’s right. But, as Boone put it, until the Yankees improve, “It’s just me telling you.”
The Yankees manager also noted that part of thriving in Major League Baseball was “how you handle when it gets noisy. When it gets heavy."
“It can be rough,” he added. “But no one is going to feel sorry for you, that’s for sure. Especially when you wear this uniform. So it’s on us.”
The Mets got themselves right after their season started poorly. Look at them now. Now that the Yankees are the ones stumbling, can they pull off the same thing?
