Will the Real Mets Please Stand Up?

In the euphoria following last Friday's 9-1 win over the Phillies, the Mets knew their talking points. To a man, each of them expressed a certain "look at me now" satisfaction in having taken their winning streak on the road.

You understood why they might have a chip on their shoulder in that respect. For all the brilliance of their 9-1 homestand, the detractors were quick to point out that for the Mets to be successful, they would need to start winning more games on the road.

Zoom forward to the present and it's clear the Mets have a lot left to prove to those detractors.

One formula for reaching of the playoffs requires a team to take two of out of three at home and play .500 ball on the road. Right now the Mets, 11-5 at home and 4-8 on the road, are managing one half of that equation handily, and failing miserably at the other.

No doubt, this was a hard-fought series in Cincinnati. The Mets played well, but ultimately fell short two out of three games. After the debacle in Philadelphia on Saturday-Sunday (the latter of which was an eminently winnable game), the Mets could have really used a series win in Cincy to help stake their claim as being a legit contender.

Instead the questions linger. Who are the real Mets? Are they the team that stumbled early? The team that reeled off a 9-1 homestand? Some combination of the two?

Personally I'm not sure. It's really been a funny season. I expected the pitching to be terrible and the hitting to be dynamic; instead, we've gotten pretty much the reverse.

Jason Bay looks awful right now, and has for most of the season. Jose Reyes has basically contributed nothing. David Wright's been great (particularly, I'm required to note, with regard to the power numbers), but it hasn't been enough to compensate for the other two's non-contributions.

Meanwhile, Jon Niese, who took the loss yesterday, has been better than most of us would have hoped. Ditto Mike Pelfrey, save the implosion last Saturday. And then there's the bullpen, where Hisanori Takahashi has been a godsend, Jenrry Mejia has seemed like the real deal, and Fernando Nieve has pitched effectively.

At some point you almost expect these two trend lines to reverse. You expect to see the pitching falter and the offense wake up. In this season, however, the better assumption has been to expect the unexpected.

Which brings us back to the Mets. I'm still trying to figure out what we can reasonably expect from this team. Now that they've gotten their act together and proven to themselves they can win games, it's going to be very interesting to watch them over the coming weeks.

How will they respond to the lost road trip when they return home tomorrow?

This was a disappointing road trip, but it was just two series -- can they put together a better showing next time?

Stay tuned, Mets fans, stay tuned.

- A.F.O.M.G.