On the morning of June 1, the Mets and Astros were both suffering from the same baseball catatonia. Both teams had tough first two months. Both teams were exhibiting the classic symptoms.
The pitching was good but we didn’t get any hits.
The hitting was good, but the pitching was awful.
Then there was the day-in, day-out mixture of awful defense, base running, a porous bullpen and general incompetence.
On the morning of June 1, there seemed to be stamp books ready on the breakfast table to mail out the rest of both teams’ seasons. As May turned to June, the Astros were 25-33 (after falling 12 games below .500), and the Mets were 24-33 (after falling 11 games below .500).
Then some interesting things happened.
For the Astros, who begin a three-game series at Citi Field starting Friday night, it’s a bit simpler. They’re approaching the elite baseball team that has won two World Series and made seven straight playoff appearances, gone 15-7 in June and even finished 40-40 for the first time this year.
The Mets are doing even better, going 15-6 in June and 39-39 at sea level for the first time since losing to the Braves on May 10. There are a few things that have worked in their favor, but they’re doing everything they need to do to build a winning streak, especially with an 11-3 record against losing teams (and two games against the Yankees, who are playing like they’re losing), winning five straight series, rebuilding their pitching and offense, and not missing a ninth inning opportunity in a while.
And one more thing:
Francisco Alvarez is in the lineup every day.
And with the crazy amount of days and days on the schedule these days, he really is playing every day. It’s generally a good thing to have a front-line player around anyway. For the Mets, that was pretty much it.
Want to give credit to Grimmas? He’s the plump, anthropomorphic purple taste bud who threw the ceremonial first pitch before the June 12 game against the Marlins, the night that sparked the team’s seven-game winning streak that was the centerpiece of their June surge. And that’s fine. It’s cute. And the sight of Grimmas slurping down a beer during Wednesday’s rain stoppage was the perfect touchstone of all of this.
Give Grimace his due.
Or, if you think of Grizzly, which isn’t Alvarez’s nickname but should be, as a one-two combo with Pete Alonso’s Polar Bear, it epitomizes just how exceptional Alvarez has been for the Mets this year.
When he played, he was 22-8, including appearances as a DH or pinch hitter.
In the last 25 games that Alvarez has played, the Mets are 22-3. Those two games were separated by a 51-day stint on the disabled list. During that time, the Mets felt like they had drifted off the red line and were heading into a July selloff. You can’t blame Alvarez alone for that. In fact, one of the great discoveries this season has been Alvarez’s backup, Luis Terence. He’ll be in the starting lineup as the Mets enter a 17-game, 17-day stretch before the All-Star break.
Still, 22-3 is 22-3.
Alvarez isn’t just a good luck charm. He’s … well, he’s a hot slugger when he picks up the bat. On Wednesday against the Yankees, he hit a home run and had three hits, improving his batting average to .313 and his OPS to .904. After struggling just 2-for-14 after coming off the disabled list, he’s been on a roll since. In his last eight games, he’s hit .556 with .647 on-base percentage and a 1.037 ERA while hitting 3 home runs, 9 RBI and 7 extra base hits.
That’s a 1.684 OPS. That’s incredible. That’s insane. And, sadly, that’s unsustainable.
But Alvarez’s influence doesn’t have to be this way. Mets pitchers, in particular, love throwing to Alvarez. Their ERA against him is 2.71, well above 4.00 against other pitchers. That’s no coincidence. And it’s no coincidence that the Mets look relaxed and happy with Alvarez in the lineup. Even when Alvarez is taking foul balls out of his mask, Alvarez looks like he’s having a blast.
“He cares, you can see that,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said this week about his second-year catcher. “They fuel each other and Albie is at the center of that.”
Incredibly, the Mets are now back in the thick of playoff contention, as are the two teams that nearly buried themselves in tire tracks just before Memorial Day: the Astros. The Astros seem to have just had to remember they’re the Astros to lift themselves. For the Mets, it was something else. Some may want to thank Grimas, but it’s better to thank the man who would soon become known as Grizzly.
