Mike Piazza Ceremony Could, Perhaps, Wake Up These Current New York Mets
Andy Marlin, USATI

Could Mike Piazza‘s Saturday night ceremony light a fire under this current New York Mets mess?

The New York Mets have not been playing good baseball lately. They’ve lost three games in a row. Their once perfect closer blew his last two save opportunities on back to back days and their offense continues to struggle overall and in RISP.

Could an old Mets legend boost up these current Mets tonight? This is the question we pose.

Prior to tonight’s game vs. the Colorado Rockies, the Mets will hold a special ceremony in honor of their former star Mike Piazza. They will retire his No. 31 at Citi Field. As a result, no future Mets player will ever wear 31 in honor of Piazza.

I hope a lot of the current Mets players will watch this, and they probably will for good reason.

I know Piazza’s long retired and he is not walking through that door anytime, but legends are forever legends. Piazza was one of a kind.

A lot of the current Mets players were probably kids back then when Piazza arrived to New York and instantly transformed this once dormant Mets franchise to a contender. However, as baseball players, they know fully well the impact that Piazza had on the game of baseball and especially to this Mets franchise, now that they are playing for them.

Catcher Travis d’Arnaud knows full well. He grew up a Piazza fan in California when Piazza was a Los Angeles Dodger. Pitcher Steven Matz grew up a Mets fan in Stony Brook, Long Island, so he knows what Piazza did here.

On a time when the Mets have been struggling mightily with their play lately, “Could this ceremony actually wake them up?”

It could perhaps, especially the offense. This Mets lineup may be one sided but it’s not lacking much in talent. They may only hit home runs but that sure is a skill that a lot of other players don’t have.

Piazza was one of the greatest home run hitters in the game, but he wasn’t just a home run hitter. He was a great hitter overall.

He may not walk through that door and show these current Mets how to hit, but perhaps this ceremony could pump them up and make them realize they are much better they can be the rest of 2016.

The Mets may have the worst average with RISP, but it’s not due to lack of skill. Most of the Mets know how to hit and they have a lot of power as we saw early on this season when they were winning games on the strength of the long ball.

Getting hits with runners on takes some grit. I know the trades they made at the trading deadline last season helped turn their season around in August, and maybe, just maybe, acquiring Jonathan Lucroy from the Milwaukee Brewers could boost them.

Perhaps the Mets will turn it around with RISP. Maybe celebrating a former Met legend could do the trick.

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Other than God, sports are my biggest love. My teams are the Mets, Knicks, NY Giants, NY Rangers and St Johns basketball (St. John's alumni). I especially love the Mets like crazy, more than any other team and seeing them win the World Series would be a dream come true and definitely the best sports moment. The Knicks are a close second. I also like to write, so combine that with my passion for sports equals a perfect scenario, I would love to do sports writing long term. If not that, then probably sports broadcasting, cause I love to talk sports as well. In addition to writing for ESNY, I'm also currently writing for Metsmerizedonline.