Through a solid final week of the first half of the season, the Mets, who stumbled to a 7-19 June, received some breaks.
Bloops found holes, and opposing teams’ hard hits found gloves.
Their hope for the second half is the breaks continue — both the luck-based breaks and the breaks that enable them more time to breathe.
The Mets were one of the most disappointing teams in baseball through a first half in which they played 39 home games and 51 road games, tied with the Phillies for the most games away from home in MLB.
They went 22-29 away from Citi Field, but will have a more favorable schedule the rest of the way.
“We get to play a lot more games at home in the second half,” Pete Alonso said during the All-Star festivities in Seattle. “The first half, I think we played two and a half to three weeks more on the road. … We’re going to have home-field advantage in the second half, and it’s going to be nice to play in front of our home fans and not log as much travel hours.”
The Mets are finished with West Coast trips and will open the second-half slate with a six-game homestand, during which they will try to regain the momentum that had built before the pause in play.
After sinking to a rock bottom of 10 games under .500 on June 30, the Mets have won six of eight in July and are 42-48, seven games out of a wild-card spot.
“We had a great week before the All-Star break, went 4-2 against high-quality teams,” Alonso said of a road trip to Arizona and San Diego. “I feel like that’s going to springboard us into the second half.”
The schedule will help, but so would hitters such as Alonso finding gaps and not gloves.
Manager Buck Showalter pointed out early this month that his first baseman has been among the unluckiest hitters in baseball this season.
In the first half, Alonso hit .211, but he continually pounded the ball.
Statcast estimates his expected batting average was .256.
The 45-point differential is the third-biggest in MLB among 268 qualified hitters.
“I know every year I’m one of the top guys who hits the ball the hardest,” said Alonso, who still managed 26 first-half home runs and an .807 OPS.
“Typically, as a hitter if you hit the ball hard, good things happen. I can see [Showalter’s assertion], absolutely. … I’m just hoping that the law of averages will treat me fairly in the second half.”
The Mets will ask more from their offense, but they will ask plenty more from a pitching staff that continually emerged as an unexpected weakness.
Their bullpen proved thin and their high-priced rotation was their biggest letdown of the first half.
Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer have been OK, but not co-aces, and a rotation the Mets hoped would be the club’s anchor has logged just the 21st-most innings in the majors, which put a further spotlight on the bullpen’s deficiencies.
Their only pitcher who earned an All-Star nod was Kodai Senga, who has been strong in pitching to a 3.31 ERA, but also has walked too many, which has contributed to shorter outings.
“The deeper I go into the games, the better chances we have of winning,” Senga said through interpreter Hiro Fujiwara. “So that’s my goal.”
Senga has said the amount of travel major league teams encounter has been an adjustment, and he has had to find the right routine through a lot of lengthy plane rides.
He and the club will have more time to breathe over the second half. Will they have enough time to make a run?
“It’s a long season,” Alonso said. “We still have half the season left to play. We’re extremely talented.”
