New York Mets Dealt a Dose of Reality in Sweep by New York Yankees

For the first time in a long time, this past weekend's Subway Series showdown between the New York Mets and New York Yankees felt like it was actually important. With both the Mets and Yankees fighting for first place in their respective divisions, there was more than just bragging rights on the line.

Especially as far as the Mets were concerned. They went into the Bronx looking to prove something to all the skeptics.

Mets fans are loving the team's resurgence in 2012. Everyone else has been waiting for it to come crashing down. Yet just when you think the Mets are going to revert back to their 2009-2011 suckitude (a technical term, I assure you), they defy the odds and keep winning ballgames.

That's what the Mets were looking to do in the Bronx this weekend. Had they actually come away with a series victory over their crosstown rivals, they would have sent a very loud message.

This, of course, did not happen. 

The Mets had their moments against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium, but the bad moments far outweighed the good moments. When a fly ball off the bat of Russell Martin landed in the cheap seats in the bottom of the ninth inning on Sunday, the Mets walked away as victims of a three-game sweep.

Make no mistake about it, the Mets got a reality check this past weekend. They may be a pleasant surprise, but their three-game sweep at the hands of the Bombers is proof-positive that the Mets are well south of being elite. 

Gasp!

OK, not really. The notion that the Mets aren't an elite team shouldn't come as a big surprise to anyone who has been keeping an eye on the Mets this season. They're a quality team and they've won more games than they've lost, but they have yet to take on and pass a truly tough test.

Their three-game sweep of the Atlanta Braves to open the season? Not bad, but the Braves didn't get on track until later. They are currently a much stronger team than the Mets.

The same goes for the Mets' three-game sweep of the Miami Marlins later in April. The Marlins were a mess at the time, and they didn't shape up until the calendar turned to May, when they eventually took two of three from the Mets.

The Mets did well to take three of four from the Cardinals recently, but the Cards went into that series mired in a funk. The Mets essentially kicked them while they were already down.

As for the Mets' 6-3 record against Philadelphia, all you can say is "meh." That would have been impressive a year ago, but not now.

The point is that the Mets have yet to come up against and beat a really good team playing really good baseball. They've gotten to where they are by beating up on beatable teams. Superior teams have outplayed them.

The hell of it is that the Yankees are far from perfect. They've had to deal with numerous problems this season, including injured stars like Mariano Rivera and ineffective stars like Alex Rodriguez and (more recently) Derek Jeter. They're a good team, but they're certainly not unbeatable (i.e. like the Texas Rangers were earlier in the season).

The Mets gave the Yankees a run for their money on Sunday, but aside from that, the series was pretty one-sided. The Mets came into the series looking to prove that they were no longer pushovers, and the Yankees treated them like pushovers and booted them out of the Bronx accordingly.

Worse, there isn't a whole lot from the series for the Mets to hang their hats on. Staff ace Johan Santana was knocked around, the Yankees were able to hit clutch home runs when they needed them and the Mets shot themselves in the foot with bad fielding in the third and final game of the series. They did not look like a team that had any business beating the Yankees.

In other words, they looked like the same old Mets.

After their sweep at the hands of the Yankees, the Mets have now lost six of seven games to fall to 32-29 on the season. They should consider themselves lucky that they're still in third place in the NL East, as the fourth-place Marlins suffered the same fate the Mets did at the hands of the Tampa Bay Rays.

The question we should be asking now is, what comes next for the Mets? Can they recover from this bad stretch and make some noise in the NL East, or will they sink further down to join the Phillies in their misery at the bottom of the division?

I doubt the latter will happen. The Mets are going to have a tough time against tough teams, but they'll be able to take advantage of the general mediocrity of the National League this season. There are some lousy teams in the Central and the West that the Mets can beat up on, and it's not hard to imagine them continuing their mastery of the Phillies.

In addition, the Mets' cause will be helped by the fact that it's going to be very hard for any team to run away from the rest of the pack in the NL East. The Nationals and Braves are both very strong teams, but the Mets aren't that far behind either of them. That's likely going to be the case when the dust settles at the end of the season too.

If you want the short version, here it is: Yes, the Mets are going to win more games than they lose this season. They're currently on pace to win 85 games, and it's fair to expect them to get there.

Just don't expect more than that. These Mets are nothing special. A special team wins a weekend series against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. A good team wins at least one game.

The Mets are neither special nor particularly good. They are merely decent.

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