Palladino: Mets' Assault On NL East Crown Begins In Earnest Friday
By Ernie Palladino
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Splitting their two season-opening games with the world champion Royals got the Mets off to a good start.
Now they have a chance to make it a great one.
Beginning with Friday's Citi Field opener, they'll play their next six games at home against NL East rivals Philadelphia and Miami. Unless Terry Collins' squad overindulges in the new food choices that ring the stadium or the chaw police hauls off half his players for violating Bill de Blasio's day-old smokeless-tobacco ban, Friday's game represents a real opportunity to jump-start a full frontal assault on the division.
The Mets are not so naïve to think that anything that happens between Friday and the homestand finale next Wednesday will determine where they'll wind up come late September. But they do know from last year that wins in April come in awful handy down the line, especially as the pins and needles grow far sharper than the ones home opener starter Jacob deGrom is sitting on as he anticipates the arrival of his first child.
MORE: Jacob DeGrom Could Miss Mets Home Opener Due To Birth Of First Child
The Mets know these are important games, not just for building momentum after having three days off in the last four, but for creating a little early breathing room. And if any of them have forgotten how critical that is, they need only look at last year's early schedule and remember how ripping off wins in their first 10 home games impacted the rest of the season.
Between the home opener on April 13 and the beginning of the first Subway Series at Yankee Stadium on April 24, the Mets knocked off the Phillies, Marlins, and Braves after splitting their first six games on the road.
They didn't exactly blow away their guests. Eight of those games were decided by three runs or less. If there was any doubt at that point that pitching would determine the real fate of that team, it became quite evident then.
Still, 10 games was 10 games. And though it propelled the Mets to a division title -- that wouldn't come until Yoenis Cespedes arrived -- the streak went a long way in helping them hang off the Nationals' shoulder while their Quadruple-A lineup struggled to support deGrom, Matt Harvey, Noah Syndergaard, Jon Niese, and Bartolo Colon. Eventually, Sandy Alderson's big trade on the last day of July turned their world on its head.
They kept on winning in the division, too. The Mets went 25-13 at home against NL East foes last year, the entire tone set by with that winning streak.
Now they have a chance to do it again on a somewhat lesser scale. It's only six games before they head off to Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Atlanta for nine games. But breathing room is breathing room. The opportunity to gain it can never be wasted.
Not that this season hasn't gotten off well. Just chalk up Sunday's loss in Kansas City to some preseason jitters. The championship flag-raising ceremonies were certainly more unsettling to the team the Royals beat than they would have been for any other team. Besides, the Mets got over that two days later as Syndergaard and his dirty, nasty slider mowed them down on three hits and Neil Walker added a little offense with his first homer of the season.
That 2-0 win is not going to carry the Mets a long way, of course. But if David Wright, Lucas Duda, Curtis Granderson, and Cespedes can get something going early in front of a home crowd that no longer regards winning as accidental, the Mets can build up a little cushion along with goodwill that can sustain them through the season's darker cycles.
Getting through Friday is the first step.
MORE: Mets Set To Raise NL Flag Before Home Opener Friday Vs. Phillies
The pregame intros and hoisting of the National League pennant will be a lot more comfortable than the victor-vanquished moments they endured Sunday night in Kauffman Stadium. The uncertain status of deGrom won't distract, since Harvey, Colon, and Steven Matz are all viable starting options should "Go-Time" come for the expectant father beforehand.
After that, it's just a home game.
And maybe the start of something big.
Follow Ernie on Twitter at @ErniePalladino
