Palladino: Winning First Halves A Good Start For Yankees, Mets
By Ernie Palladino
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The Yanks and Mets both survived the first half of the season, one comfortably and one barely.
It's what the second half holds that hints that the only October baseball will occur in The Bronx.
The Yanks hit the midpoint Saturday at 44-37, thanks to a perfect bunt in a 3-2 win over the Rays, their third straight. The Mets passed theirs Friday at 41-40 thanks to one of their rare road wins in Los Angeles.
The fact that both teams made it through the first half on the good side of .500 is heartening, to an extent. It means both teams are on track for at least a winning season.
Then again, everything is relative. And when people talk about successful seasons in New York, they really mean playoff runs, not winning seasons.
As far as the Mets go, fans have seen this before. They last hit the 81-game mark as winners in 2012, raising hopes and spirits before a second-half plummet to 79-83. As it stands now, the playoff picture looks -- to say the least -- dim as Terry Collins tries to manage a physically battered second-place club. Aside from Sunday's 8-0 outburst at Chavez Ravine, the Mets don't hit, they tend not to win away from Citi Field and they have merely flirted with .500 since that oh-so-long-ago 11-game winning streak.
They currently sit a game above .500, having put 21 days between their last true offensive explosion, a 10-8 win over the Braves on June 14. The current lineup has a minor league flavor to it, David Wright may never be right again -- even if he does return in time to help -- and this offense will never really pick up the otherwise outstanding pitching during its occasional struggles, Only the delusional could place the Mets anywhere near a playoff spot.
Forty road games remain, and it doesn't appear Ben Zobrist is on his way to bail out one of MLB's worst offenses. They still have to go to San Francisco for three games. Their 10 games immediately following the All-Star break come against the Cardinals, Nationals and Dodgers. Six are on the road.
At this point, Sandy Alderson and Collins would sign up for a mere winning season. At least that would provide the do-little GM with some positive material for his stand-up comedy routine.
The Yanks' situation looks so much brighter by comparison. Granted, there is still plenty of time for Joe Girardi's roster to fall apart. But consider that another missing piece in closer Andrew Miller is ready to start a minor league rehab assignment, and the lineup just won two of three games with power and a bunt. One can easily see the Yanks in a playoff spot at the end.
The standings say so, too. Even after an 8-1 home shellacking in Ivan Nova's start Sunday, they remain in first place in a rather tame AL East, a game up on Baltimore.
They'll play 43 of their final 80 in The Bronx, and they won't travel to the West Coast again.
The Yanks may be more streaky than consistent but, Sunday aside, have proved they can generate runs by various methods over the long view. Their 107 homers are third in baseball. Mark Teixeira is delightedly having his best year since he hurt his wrist in 2013, with 20 homers and a league-high 59 RBIs. Brian McCann popped one out in the 12th for Friday's win before Ramon Flores brought them to the halfway point safely with Saturday's game-ending RBI bunt.
That bleacher creature even gave Alex Rodriguez the home run ball from his 3,000th hit.
See? Everybody's happy.
Midpoint markers are never definitive for the long run. But it's easy to see that, given all the factors surrounding the two teams, the Yanks are in much better shape than the Mets to vie for a playoff spot.
But let's face it. Hitting the 81-game mark above .500 was a lot better than the alternative for both squads.
