Sirius will appear in the night sky over New York City between now and Wednesday, which means the dog days have arrived. But we know that already from the Mets, who have emerged from the All-Star break in a scramble to win the World Series.
The Amazins started the season’s second half with a win over Philadelphia that featured homers by Juan Lagares and Neil Walker and a performance by Bartolo Colon that held the Phillies to four hits over five and two-thirds innings.
“We feel we are a playoff team,” Walker told reporters afterward.
The win leaves the Mets with 48 wins, six games behind Washington and in possession of the third of three spots for a wild-card berth. That’s one more win than the Mets had at this spot last season, when they finished as runner-up to the Royals.
And again this season, the odds of the Mets playing in October seem likely to to depend on the health of their lineup. At last year’s midpoint, injuries had sidelined David Wright (a narrowing of the spine), Steven Matz (torn back muscle) and Travis d’Arnaud (elbow sprain).
A year later, both David Wright (recovering from surgery to repair a herniated disk in his neck) and Matt Harvey (slated for season-ending surgery to correct a compression of blood vessels between his collarbone and first rib) are out for the season. Yoenis Cespedes is nursing a strained quadriceps.
Noah Syndergaard, whose E.R.A. of 2.56 ranks him eighth in the majors, is monitoring a bone spur in his throwing elbow. Lucas Duda, who has been on the disabled list since May with a stress fracture in his lower back, is slated to resume activity next week.
In the meantime, the Mets will look to a mix of players to propel them into playoff contention. “We still think we are going to have a big second half, but we have to have some different people step up,” manager Terry Collins told the Post. “We don’t have Harv, so somebody else has to step up. We don’t have David, and Duda is out, we’ve got to have other people step up.”
So for the Mets, the second half of summer may be a story of stepping up. If that happens, they may be in contention come the harvest moon.