The Mets, after falling 3-2 to the Marlins on Thursday night, have now dropped three of their last four games, all against the bottom two teams in the NL East in Miami and the Nationals.
But Javier Baez believes the team is looking like an improved club, even as New York’s dreadful second half of the season continues with more frustrating and close losses.
“We’re doing better,” Baez said, after blasting a home run on Thursday night. “We’re playing good baseball right now. We’ll see what happens this next week.”
The Mets had won six in a row heading into Saturday’s doubleheader against Washington, but fell right back into a tough stretch to lose more ground in the playoff race, now five games back in the division and the Wild Card. The inconsistent offense continued on Thursday, as the Mets have scored three runs in their last 19 innings, but Baez says there is reason to be optimistic when it comes to the bats that have struggled for much of the season.
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“I think we’re seeing the ball better,” Baez said. “We’re trying really hard, the way I see it. We just gotta slow the game down and see it pitch by pitch, not to speed it up. We gotta see pitches and see the way they pitch to us and make our adjustments.”
Despite the improvements that Baez has seen of late, it hasn’t turned into results, as the Mets missed a golden opportunity to capitalize on weaker opponents and stay within striking distance of a playoff spot heading into the final three weeks of the regular season. Instead, New York let multiple victories slip away against inferior clubs.
“These are the things we gotta focus on,” Baez said. “We have to beat them. These teams that are not fighting for the playoffs, they’re focused. They have that feeling that we need. They’re not trying so hard, just trying to see the ball and slow everything down. That’s the way we need to be.
“The way they slow the game down, they go pitch by pitch, they keep their plan. We do it, we just gotta stay focused…we gotta compete.”
Baez, one of the team’s best hitters since arriving via trade, wants to see the Mets play more loose like the Marlins and Nationals, two teams that are going nowhere, but unless New York starts finding results more in line with the teams they are chasing, they will be in the same spot as the free-playing Marlins and Nats come October. The Mets, now 22-31 in the second half of the season after a 9-19 August, need to turn things around and get some outside help to save the season.
“Yeah, for sure, but like I said, that’s something we can control,” Baez said. “We just gotta play hard and compete, see how other teams do, and see how we do this next week or so.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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