Jacob deGrom made his mark yesterday in a masterful performance against the 2nd place Atlanta Braves. It was definitely a statement game and capped off a great weekend for the Mets taking 4 of 5 vs. the Braves. SU has been saying all season that the Mets with a healthy deGrom are a major factor in the post-season. When you can roll out deGrom and Scherzer in a short series, you put tremendous pressure on the other team. The Mets have enough offense to get to the ALCS and take on the mighty Dodgers who now have Joey Gallo (for the moment until he is DFA’d).
Meanwhile, the Yankees have lost 5 straight and are 9 – 16 in the last 25 games. Every team does through a lull each season and clearly the Yankees are lulling as we speak. The Mets now have the same record as the Yankees but are trending in a different direction. SU notes that when the Yankees won all of the close games in the first half of the season they were carried by Judge, Rizzo and Stanton. Well, Stanton is out for his annual injury (Achilles is the body part of choice in 2022) and Rizzo has back issues. Judge has been the rock and as we know, historically he is not a rock. The reality is that Judge can’t miss any time. He covers up for an amazing lack of production from half the team. Even Michael Kay has seen enough on the Yankee broadcasts as he has started to actually recite all of the “0 for” streaks that the hitters are going through (looking at you Hicks, Torres, Benintendi). What it all means is that if they don’t hit home runs, the likelihood of putting a rally together with multiple hits is very, very small. SU has run the numbers, and trust me, really small.
SU will not panic about Benintendi… yet. He needs to ease his way in and I believe he will eventually start to hit. Montas was pretty terrible yesterday but he does throw hard and truth be told, if he is not what they hoped for, then it will be a short October run. They are a half game ahead of the Astros now and for 2022, best record means a whole lot.
SU is unhappy that Marinaccio was sent down for 3 weeks as Cashman did not want to lose Albert Abreu. The bullpen has to throw a ton of innings given how limited the starters are this year in pitch count. Rolling Abreu out there over and over again is going to be a problem.
Bottom line: you are never as good as you look when you are winning, and you are never as bad as you look when you are losing. SU totally agrees with this. But… the good vibes on the Yankees for the first half of the season are gone now and the Montgomery trade will take some time to get over for some of the players. If Bader turns out to be the real deal and can put Hicks on the bench, then that can flip in September.
The next two series are interesting. 3 in Seattle and then 3 in Boston. The Red Sox are terrible but play their best against the Yankees. And then Tampa Bay and Toronto for 7 at home. Buckle up.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
Though I have been quite nauseous as of late I do feel with so much talent that we will right the ship and head into the playoffs pretty much on an upbeat direction. Though no one at this time is a a clear favorite with DeGrom showing his stuff the Met’s clearly will give the Dodgers a run for their money. Though you feel that psychologically the Astros should be slight favorites over the Yankees… and at this point deservingly so I still look at this series as a toss up as well. Any of these 4 can win it all. The weakest of the four right now would appear to be the Yankees, but only because at this point in time they have played horribly. I think that will change. It better…..