Mickey Togs

Is the season slipping away from the New York Mets?

Edwin Diaz, who has forgotten how to save games, and Kodai Senga, who keeps getting further away from a return, are signed through 2027. Is Diaz, who blew his fourth save in his last five tries ever going to be elite again after his devastating knee injury? How about Senga after his shoulder woes?

Brett Baty, the third baseman of the future, can’t beat out Mark Vientos in the present. Has anyone heard much good about the Mets’ farm system this year, particularly its best position players? 

The Mets have lost five straight and at 21-30 are a season-high nine games under .500 and have the majors’ worst record (9-22) since April  21. 

The Mets had plotted wild-card contention this year but the product on the field currently looks ill-equipped to make a playoff run even with the third wild card being fought for among mediocrities.

They were staring down the possibility of losing back-to-back home games to begin this Eastern Conference Final when Barclay Goodrow reminded everyone why he was a priority add a few summers ago. 

Goodrow scored the winning goal with 5:59 remaining in overtime, giving the Blueshirts a much-needed 2-1 victory over the Panthers in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final on Friday at Madison Square Garden.

That evened the series at 1-1 as they shift to Florida for Game 3, which will be played Sunday at 3 p.m.

“To see him score a goal like that tonight is awesome because his role doesn’t always consist of that,” head coach Peter Laviolette said. 

“It’s not always in the offensive zone. It’s not on the power play, but when you see somebody who does so many other things that helps a team be successful, you’re really happy for a guy like that when he can make a huge impact in the game tonight offensively.”

Fifty-one games into the season, Juan Soto is sparking chants of “M-V-P!” at Yankee Stadium.

“Way too early,” Soto said after his second two-homer game of the homestand led the New York Yankees over the Seattle Mariners 7-3  and stopped New York’s first two-game losing streak in three weeks.

Soto drove a full-count sinker into the visitors’ bullpen in left in the third for a two-run homer and a 4-0 lead, a 414-foot drive off Bryce Miller that hit the back wall on a hop. Soto connected on another sinker on Miller’s first pitch of the sixth inning, a 369-foot shot into the left-field stands.

That prompted the “M-V-P!” chorus from the crowd of 40,224.

“I love when when the Bronx gets behind our guys,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Obviously showing their appreciation for him.”

In his first season since the Yankees acquired him from San Diego, Soto is hitting .313 with 13 homers, 40 RBIs and a .978 OPS. The 25-year-old from the Dominica Republic repeatedly responds to the admiration and affection from the fans behind him in the right-field seats.