Ya Gotta Believe: Mets-Marlins Series Preview

The Mets were seven and a half games out, and in fourth place in June. They fired their manager. They haven’t had a closer for the last two months. Their #2 starter’s been out for over a month. Their left fielder missed most of the season. The guy who replaced him is out for the year. Their right fielder missed half the year. The jumble of second basemen has missed a chunk of games, and now their fourth-stringer is starting. They have arguably the worst bullpen in baseball. Yet here they are, still with a chance at post-season play. On the one hand, they scratched, clawed and fought their way back into contention. But on the other, even with all those injuries, they’ve flushed a plethora of almost-certain victories right down the toilet.

And now they’re down to the last three games. The Mets are one game behind Philadelphia and tied with Milwaukee for the wild card lead. Florida comes in for the last (regular season?) series at Shea. If we’ve learned anything, it’s sure to be a weekend filled with drama, tension, ups, downs and rain. Hopefully having Johan Santana on the mound for the last game instead of Tom Glavine will be enough of a difference. They have the same pathetic bullpen and an offense that often goes into a deep freeze after the first inning. But this version of the Amazin’s is more resilient and has more fight in them than last year’s roster. The 2008 Mets make everything as difficult as possible for themselves, so was there any doubt it would all come down to the final, bitter end?

Here are the pitching matchups:

Friday: Chris Volstad (5-4, 3.10) vs. Mike Pelfrey (13-10, 3.70)

Saturday: Ricky Nolasco (15-7, 3.55) vs. TBD

Sunday: Scott Olsen (8-11, 4.23) vs. Johan Santana (15-7, 2.64)

Marlins vs. Mets 

Jorge Cantu: .185/.217/.277, 1 HR, 6 RBI

Mike Jacobs: .368/.468/.737, 3 HR, 8 RBI

Hanley Ramirez: .232/.386/.321, 0 HR, 1 RBI

Cody Ross: .283/.340/.587, 3 HR, 10 RBI

Dan Uggla: .237/.297/.407, 2 HR, 11 RBI

Mets vs. Marlins 

Carlos Beltran: .315/.409/.611, 3 HR, 12 RBI

Ryan Church: .273/.333/.409, 1 HR, 5 RBI

Carlos Delgado: .143/.232/.327, 3 HR, 7 RBI

Daniel Murphy: .438/.526/.688, 1 HR, 2 RBI

Jose Reyes: .338/.389/.600, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 5 SB

David Wright: .371/.426/.677, 4 HR, 13 RBI