MIAMI — After sweeping the Washington Nationals last weekend and gaining a piece of first place in the National League East, the New York Mets own a 38-18 home record.
Only the St. Louis Cardinals have a better home mark than the Mets.
Now comes the tricky part. The Mets left Citi Field, where there was a full house, a stadium rocking in their favor. Now hit the road, to a much more sedate setting in Marlins Park, where the Mets will have to generate their own motivation instead of getting help from their fans.
Well, so far so good on the trip, as the Mets routed the Miami Marlins 12-1 Monday night. When the Washington Nationals lost, the Mets took sole possession of first place.
However, even with the win, the Mets are just 18-32 on the road this season. Among first-place teams, that is easily the worst road record in baseball.
In fact, only the last-place Phillies, with just 15 wins, have been worse on the road this season.
Mets manager Terry Collins said he fully expects his team to play much better on the road the rest of the season, in part because of the veteran players the team added before the trading deadline.
“We’ve been an outstanding road team up until this year,” Collins said. “A lot of it had to do with early in the year we had a lot of young guys who weren’t used to playing on the road in the big leagues. In the past, we’ve had veteran guys who (know the road) was just another day.
“Now we’ve brought some veteran guys in, and hopefully we start playing better on the road.”