Familia Affair

(Music Pun #10- This could be Sly and the Family Stone or Mary J. Blige.)

Okay. So the Mets aren't in first anymore. We kind of knew that was coming. But...they're in fourth, behind the Nationals, who have snuck up and reclaimed power like we knew they would, while the Braves and Phillies tussle for first.

To be honest, the Mets' fourth-place slide makes sense, because while a lot of people are playing well, the main core of the team is striking out too much. Their two best players, Jacob deGrom and Todd Frazier, are currently on the DL. They have no catcher, because their usual option, Travis d'Arnaud, is literally made of glass, and their newest option, Devin Mesoraco, is JUST AS INJURY-PRONE! You couldn't have written that if you tried. I'm gonna time this. I'm gonna time how long it takes for Devin Mesoraco to land on the DL again. I give it ten days. It might be less.

The rotation, even without deGrom, is still alright, with Syndergaard and Matz doing well enough, and Wheeler slowly improving. Jason Vargas, meanwhile, despite still holding up Seth Lugo for a rotation spot, is pitching...quite poorly, completely erasing his 2017-era credibility, and essentially just existing to piss off Lugo and Rafael Montero who should be starting. Hell, at least Jeurys Familia is back to his 2015 self servicing the ninth, throwing smoke and nabbing 10 saves already. I don't know if his personal woes are completely behind him, but the Mets fans have seemed to forgive him.

Look, it's tough to call, because so many teams in this division are legitimately good, and even if the Mets seem to be sliding back to normal, it's tough to count them out because they still have people like Cespedes and Jay Bruce who can push them back to where they were. So I'll at least say that I'm expecting something to happen.

Coming Tonight: He's giving off some serious ace vibes in a city that seriously needs some good baseball mojo right now.