Chicken Little got nothin' on Buck Showalter.
The Mets' 11-6 loss to the Angels Saturday night leaves the Mets 4-5 heading into Sunday night's finale of their 10-game West Coast trip – but with the Braves having won 10 in a row heading into their game Sunday afternoon, the Mets have seen their lead over Atlanta in the NL East drop from 10.5 games to 5.5 games.
The lead could be down to four (or also back up to seven) by the time the Mets take the field Tuesday night back home in Queens, but Showalter is looking more at the big picture than the ebbs and flows of the season when it comes to that margin.
"The sky isn't falling, it's only raining," Buck quipped after Saturday's loss. "I haven't looked at the standings since we left New York. All that stuff, there's nothing we can do about it, right? When you look at how good those [NL East] teams are, it's kind of obvious at some point, they're going to get going."
The Braves have won 10 in a row, and the Phillies are 8-0 under interim manager Rob Thomson since Joe Girardi was fired last week. That has the Phils back over .500 at 30-29 and just eight games back, and even the Marlins are 7-3 in their last 10 and back within 10.
But there's still over 100 games to go, so scoreboard watching isn't in the Mets' DNA.
"I think we pay attention to the way we play here," said Carlos Carrasco, who started Saturday's game. "We just take care of how we're playing here. We don't try to think about those games. We're just going to continue to play hard, and that's it."
Perhaps the saving grace? According to ESPN strength of schedule, the Mets had the fourth-hardest schedule in MLB entering Saturday, while the Braves were 19th – and have won 10 in a row against four teams with losing records who are a combined 41 games under .500 through Saturday's games (including the A's, who, at 21-40, have the most losses in MLB).
The Mets have their series finale in Anaheim and three with the Brewers before 11 in a row against either the Marlins or Astros to end June.
Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroWFAN
Listen live to WFAN via:
Audacy App | Online Stream | Smart Speaker
Follow WFAN on Social Media:
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Twitch
