Luis Rojas held a meeting for his Mets Wednesday afternoon to remind them that everything is fine.
The meeting was sparked by the reality that everything is not fine.
By the end of their work shift, however, the Mets moved closer to fine, grinding out a 5-3 victory over the Marlins at the ridiculously spelled loanDepot park to end a three-game losing streak and keep the Phillies, victorious again over the Nationals, 1 ½ games behind them in the National League East.
Whether Rojas’ words actually made a difference, we can’t prove or disprove scientifically. Yet the check-in felt like the right call for the Mets’ manager, who is facing arguably his greatest challenge since he accepted this job: Retain the positive vibe that has been constructed in Year 1 of the Steve Cohen Era.
“This is a team that fights and is very resilient and has the ability to fight through any type of situation,” Rojas told reporters before the game. “If you’re going through a so-called tough situation right now, that’s not new for us.
“That’s where we’re coming from with the talk we had today. This is just another one, and we’re going to face it the same way we faced the ones that we faced this season.”
The greatest heroics came from a pair of guys who just came aboard this past week. Trade acquisition Javier Baez cracked the game-winning, solo homer off Anthony Bass to start the eighth inning — he jawed at trash-talking Marlins fans as he jogged home from third base as he jogged home from third base, continuing the tension that began the previous contest — and in the second, he scored a run off a Tomas Nido grounder thanks to a brilliant sleight of hand that duped Miami catcher Alex Jackson, stopping the movement of his left hand to avoid Jackson’s tag as he slapped home plate with his right hand. That’s how you become “El Mago.”
Starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco, meanwhile, in his second start of the season after missing the first four months with a right hamstring injury, allowed just a pair of runs over 4 ¹/₃ innings, walking none and striking out five, building up his endurance and providing some much-needed stability to a flailing starting rotation.
The Mets have been flailing all over lately despite enjoying their 89th straight day in first place, and you can define “lately” via various chunks of time. Consider that they hit their high water mark of 35-25 on June 16 with a win over the Cubs and are an underwhelming 21-26 since. They are 9-12 in their last 21 contests and 2-5 in their last seven.
Hence Rojas’ call to check in, first among his hitters — the injured Francisco Lindor was among the others who spoke during that more exclusive get-together, the manager divulged — and then the entire roster.
“We didn’t talk to change anything,” Baez said. “We were just talking [about] approach, We were just talking hitting and that was it.”
Actually, Rojas acknowledged that he addressed the Mets’ recent tendency to fall behind in games early, which had occurred in each of their last three contests and four of their previous five. He conceded, “I did think we got quiet at a point in the dugout [in Tuesday night’s 5-4 loss to the Marlins] but that changed really quick.”
On Wednesday, the Mets jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second inning, aided unquestionably by some lousy Marlins defense. They seemed to be engaged the whole game, even after giving up that initial lead.
They should be, because the Mets risk losing more than their penthouse view and the accompanying playoff invitation. They survived their earlier injury blizzard (with considerable assistance from their underwhelming divisional foes) thanks to insanely good roster depth, endearing themselves to their fans with the likes of Kevin Pillar, Jose Peraza and Tylor Megill. If they fizzle into an empty October, that grit, and Rojas’ role in creating it, will be long forgotten.
So yeah, good idea to convene the gang and remind them how they got here. They require no reminder of where they’ll head if they can’t recapture their earlier magic.