Oh no, the Mets! They lost the rubber game to the Phillies yesterday and now the sky is falling. I have to admit it was pretty ugly. David Peterson put his fastball on a tee in the first inning, leading to a three-run home run for Alec Bohm and a 4-0 hole for New York. The Mets blew chances to put up crooked numbers in the third and fourth inning when Dominic Smith and Michael Conforto were struck out by Aaron Nola with runners in scoring position.

Still, New York appeared to be on the road to a comeback by chasing Nola after four innings. Unfortunately, Peterson didn’t last much longer, allowing the first two Phillies to reach in the fifth and yielding to Jacob Barnes, who gave up a three-run bomb to J.T. Realmuto on his first pitch of the campaign.

So the Mets lost their first series of the season. That doesn’t mean it makes sense to make sweeping generalizations about them like “the bullpen will be terrible” or “they’ll never hit with RISP.” It’s just three games and there are plenty of positive to take away. Peterson bounced back from his rough first inning and looked better than Nola for the next three frames. Dominic Smith and Pete Alonso look like they are going to be serious trouble in the middle of the order. Brandon Nimmo is an on-base machine and Jonathan Villar had three hits (two for extra bases) yesterday. Sure, I would rather have seen Jeff McNeil out there, but having a versatile bench piece like Villar is going to pay dividends.

I know the good things that the Mets have been doing are also occurring in a small sample size, but this team is still more likely to be very good than it is to be very bad, so optimism isn’t just healthy, it’s logical as well! Besides, the Marlins are up next and they are pretty lousy with losses in five of their first six games. Plus, I have already designated Saturday’s Jacob deGrom start as a MUST-WIN GAME. That’s one win in the bank already.

Now the Mets just need to win Taijuan Walker’s debut today and they’ll be back to in playoff contention before you know it. Seriously, this team is going to be good so everyone ought to relax and enjoy some the quality baseball that is coming up, possibly at the expense at Miami’s terrible baseball.

Either that, or the Mets will go in the tank, Francisco Lindor will demand a trade, and the team will be able to unload his insane contract. So this season will be a win either way.