There is a sense among a small but vocal faction of Mets fans that the team’s recent foray into the dregs of the American League ought to be recognized with an asterisk or an explanation. These are the people who e-mail columnists and telephone radio stations to express something that borders on embarrassment for what the Mets have done this past week in Baltimore and Cleveland.
One example, from a reader in Manhattan whose name I’ll delete for his own good:
“I want to believe as much as any other Mets fan. But how can you possibly get excited winning all these games against lousy teams? I’m worried about what’ll happen when they have to start playing the varsity. Like this weekend, when we have to play the Yankees. I fear that’ll be ugly.”
OK. A couple of things upfront here: Yes, the Mets’ schedule gets a bit dicier than this stress-free tour of the AL’s basement that concluded with last night’s 6-4 win over the Indians. Their next nine games are against the Yankees, Twins and Tigers, all over .500, all in or near first place. And, yes: There’s no doubt the Yankees might drill holes in the Mets’ balloon this weekend. They’re good enough to do it. Especially at home. Especially after dropping two out of three in the first installment of the Subway Series last month.
But the idea that the Mets have fattened up at the expense of tomato cans is wrong, and would seem to be another way for scarred, scared Mets fans to build a layer of defense for what so many of them always fear is the imminent dropping of a second shoe. Would you like to know what the Mets’ record was against sub-.500 teams before they landed in Baltimore a week ago? It was 11-14. Their record against teams with winning records, as of this very moment? It’s 21-14.
You don’t hear near as much hand-wringing coming out of Yankees fans, do you? The Yankees are 20-5 against teams with losing records. After last night’s 7-1 loss to the Phillies, they are only 21-20 against teams that were over .500. Should we ask for a recount? Should we treat the Yankees the way the NCAA Tournament committee treats its membership, penalizing them for a weak strength of schedule?
Don’t be ridiculous. You play who you play. That applies to both New York teams, and the fact is that for only the second time since the advent of interleague play, both the Mets and the Yankees are as close to first place as they are as they head into an inter-borough battle.
The Yankees remain in a flat-footed tie atop the AL East with Tampa Bay while the Mets are still just a half-game behind the Braves in the NL East. The only other time both teams entered a series against each other with both teams so close to first place was four years ago, at Shea Stadium, the Mets entering the series beginning May 19 with a two-game lead on the Phillies while the Yankees were a half-game back of the Red Sox. The Mets took two of three, so they departed a game further up and the Yankees left a game further back.
It is in many ways remarkable that we find ourselves where we find ourselves, a few days shy of summer, both teams having found identities that have endeared them to both teams.
The Yankees win as often as they do with hardly a peep out of Alex Rodriguez or Mark Teixeira; the Mets have blazed back into relevance despite that early 4-8 start, despite sitting at 20-23 after the first game of the last Subway Series. The next morning the Mets woke up seven games behind the Phillies; they have gained 10 full games on them in the standings since. And they have gained something else, too: equal footing, for now, on the city’s grandest summer stage. We have ahead of us this weekend what we always yearn for in a baseball summer: rarefied air and equal-opportunity intrigue. And whoever saw that coming a month ago?