NEW YORK _ The 2019 versions of the black cat and "Ya Gotta Believe": A black-and-white puppy and "LFGM."
The Mets have gotten people thinking about their storied playoff runs of yesteryear with a remarkable summer turnaround, which continued Tuesday with a 5-0 defeat of the Marlins at Citi Field.
Wilson Ramos provided the pop with a three-run home run, and Zack Wheeler (9-6) fired eight scoreless innings that were much welcomed after Monday's doubleheader.
New York is on a 12-1 tear. The record is 11-1 since Jeff McNeil met his newly-adopted rescue dog, a Pyrenees-shepherd-collie mix named Willow.
The Mets are 7-1 since Pete Alonso tweeted his missive for fans to support the team on a "fun, wild and memorable ride," with the hashtag #LFGM. The rookie hit his team-leading 36th homer in the latest victory.
That's one way to describe their rally from a low watermark of 40-51 to 58-56, two games out of the second wild-card spot, pending Philadelphia and Washington games out West on Tuesday night.
The Mets finally got back over .500 after 113 games, bringing up some interesting comparisons to past counterparts:
_ After 113 games in 1969, the Mets were 62-51, a season-low 10 games out of first. Three weeks later, a black cat stared down the visiting Cubs' dugout, New York overtook Chicago for the division lead and went on to win the World Series.
_ After 113 games in 1973, the team was still under .500 at 52-61 and would not break even until game 154. Pitcher Tug McGraw said all along that "Ya Gotta Believe," and a 24-9 finish paved the way to the NL pennant.
Everyone in the Citi Field clubhouse will tell you they're enjoying the journey with the destination still down the road.
"The process matters, and the hardest thing, probably in life, is to stick with the process," Mets manager Mickey Callaway said. "You have to trust that you're doing the right thing. You have to stay even-keeled the best you can ... and the players have done all those things. They've never lost their enthusiasm."
Alonso did say, "Who knows? It's one of those things that, we've got to wait and see.
"It's all a race to the finish," he added. "These last six, seven, eight weeks are just going to be crazy, regarding the wild-card race and who's going to win the division. So, that's why we need to kind of make our own luck and just win games."
The #LFGM phenomenon may or may not keep gaining traction. The long version of the acronym isn't quite PG, although Alonso assured that young fans (and beat writers) can substitute "Let's freaking go Mets."
