Mets Showing More Than Winning Attitude, But Character

The Mets have completely turned their season around for the better for once, going in to Philadelphia finishing a 9-1 home stand. They've been getting great pitching from the starters, except Ollie Perez, and especially the bullpen. The lineup is coming around, especially the middle of the lineup, and they are even driving in runs with runners in scoring position.

The media and fans were all criticizing Jerry Manuel for putting Reyes in the three hole, but it's been paying off and has actually helped Jason Bay as Jerry was hoping it would so it appears that this will remain part of the plan.

Jerry Manuel and the Mets haven't just been winning against anyone, but have been winning against teams that are managed by Lou Piniella and Joe Torre, and could have easily taken the series against Tony LaRussa and his St. Louis Cardinals.

Now, the purpose of this article is not to boast of how great the Mets are or start making predictions, it's still too early and there are still many holes in the team.

What I would like to point out is how the Mets are playing fundamentally sound baseball.

When the Mets first signed Jason Bay, I wrote an article about how Jason Bay brings more than his bat to the team, he brings that "grit," professionalism, and character. Even when Jason Bay was in the midst of his slump, or whatever you want to call it, I noticed all of those things in many situations.

No matter how hard or soft Jason Bay hits the ball, he always runs out hard. He can hit the most routine grounder and he will run to first at full speed. He's not known for his speed, but he makes a lot of routine grounders close calls and it isn't because of his speed, it's because of how hard he plays the game.

Jeff Francoeur is another player that I mentioned in that article with similar characteristics as Bay and it is their character that is beginning to rub off on the team.

The Mets are looking like a team, they aren't making such bone-head mistakes, they are actually taking advantage of other teams mistakes, and they are playing fundamentally sound baseball.

Of course there is a lot of room for improvement, but I believe they are heading in the right direction and you can see that it's definitely the case when you look at the young stud Ike Davis who also displays great character.

Time will only tell what the real identity of this team is and it may tell us this weekend when they play against the Phillies ,who by the way have been struggling a bit and have a bunch of injuries they are trying to get through not unlike the 2009 Mets.  

Maybe last year's nightmare built some character in to the team, maybe Omar standing pat this past offseason was showing the team how to be unmoved by adversity, how to go through the heat and not cower away and hide despite what anyone is saying about management.

We have seen two different teams this early in the season with the Mets, let's see what face is the true face of this team, which hopefully is the current face.