The low-water mark came on May 29, in the form of an ugly sweep at the hands of the Dodgers . The Mets were 11 games under .500 and held a team meeting afterward.
During that meeting, J.D. Martinez recalled, the message was to stop worrying about every little thing that was going wrong.
“Let’s start having fun again and start enjoying this,” the veteran designated hitter recalled. “We lose, we lose.” They’ve been losing less since that day.
After Friday night’s 2-1 victory over the Padres in front of 22,850 at Citi Field, the Mets have won nine of their last 13 games. With a split of the final two games of the series, they will have gone five consecutive series’ without a loss. They have now won three straight games in Queens for just the second time this year.
They have hardly been dominant. Thursday, the Mets were two outs from dropping a series to the lowly Marlins before Martinez’s walk-off two-run homer . And Friday, Martinez’s third-inning, two-run double was all the offense they could muster.
They managed just one hit the rest of the way, befuddled by Padres knuckleballer Matt Waldron. It didn’t matter. Sean Manaea and four relievers held down Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr.
and the Padres, as the Mets crept to within six games of .500 at 31-37. Edwin Diaz worked the ninth for his sixth save, and his first since coming off the injured list on Thursday.
Jeff McNeil’s sliding play preserved the lead and Diaz fanned Jake Cronenworth to end it. Sa.
