Record in June: 15-15

I guess it’s worth starting off with this: As has been noted all over Twitter and even in the broadcast last night during the thrashing by the Braves, the Mets have had worse Junes.

Certainly they’ve had worse cumulative performances in Atlanta (though I haven’t seen documentation that they’ve suffered a worse individual game than Wednesday night’s 20-2 loss).

But June has been the beginning of the end of many a promising season…and this year, if the Mets are going to suffer a downfall, it will at least come closer to the All Star break than in the past.

But back to Atlanta.

Tuesday night’s game was kind of a saving grace. Too often over the years in Atlanta the Mets have laid eggs. Tuesday night they made a late-inning comeback - down 3-0 in the seventh, James McCann tied the game with a 3-run homer and then Francisco Lindor drove in the go-ahead run in a 4-3 win - and that kind of softened the blow of Wednesday night’s disaster.

It also helps that Jacob DeGrom kicks off July in the rubber game of the series tonight.

But a pattern started emerging in June that needs to change if the Mets are going to still be in first place come September.

They’re still not hitting - and sometimes they only start hitting when they get to the other team’s bullpen or the starter really starts to tire.

The late-inning comebacks are exciting and worth suffering through the early innings - and they indicate the team responds well to the adversity it’s been facing all season long…

But you feel like eventually it’s going to catch up to them.

Hopefully, as they get healthier (late June saw the return of Michael Conforto and Jeff McNeil from injury, with Brandon Nimmo supposedly close to a return), the offense starts clicking in a way we’ve really only seen in a few games all year.

And hopefully by August we see that slim two-game lead over the Nationals (who, it should be mentioned, are going through an incredible stretch right now led by Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner) balloon again into one of the larger division leads in baseball.

In Case You Missed It: Here’s a great graphic SNY put on the other night illustrating the crazy injury and roster situation the Mets have had in the first three months of the season. With David Peterson possibly injured in last night’s debacle in Atlanta, they might be putting together another version of this in July.

What To Expect In July: Dusting off my crystal ball, here’s what I think we’re going to see in July:

*I think we’ll get a long look at Thomas Szapucki and Tylor Megill. The two debuted with the Mets this last week-plus in June and both might be forced into a more pivotal role than the Mets may have hoped to start their careers. Especially if Peterson misses a start or two (or more, yeesh).

*The team will likely be active come the trade deadline too. The deadline changed recently and I forget if it’s earlier or later than July 31. Either way, I’m expecting some kind of move just to shore up the depth the team has used up so far this year.

*The All Star Game is just about a week away. No one is really putting up the kind of numbers offensively that would merit consideration but Jacob deGrom (obviously), Marcus Stroman, Taijuan Walker, and Edwin Diaz are all having All Star-type seasons. Considering the injuries this year, though…I’m content to have one guy named to the team and not even have him play in the exhibition game.

*Pete Alonso might be fun to watch in the Home Run Derby…it didn’t ruin his season last time, so I hope he continues his solid season when he’s done having his fun in Colorado.

Note: I think I should mention that even though I haven't been writing, I’m still watching. Although I would have loved to have this record documenting my reaction to all things 2021 Mets this season, I’m just not able to watch the games and write about them every night the way I used to do. Too much else to do, too much else on my mind. I like doing the monthly overview - that’s definitely manageable. Outside of that, we’ll see. Maybe I’ll be more diligent about writing every day come playoff time.