When the offense was in trouble and the team was barely treading water, we needed a hero to save us. A larger than life folk hero that could swing a bat like Paul Bunyan and whose motto in life was to 'hit dingers.' We needed Donnie "Diesel" Stevenson because the Mets needed some levity to their extremely slow start and Mets fans needed just about anything else to focus on other than the lack of base hits with runners in scoring position. It was funny, quirky and natural and that's what Mets fans appreciated. What we don't appreciate is the forced spectacle of this past weekend.

Pete Alonso had gone social media silent (right call) for the entire year and came out of hibernation in one of the cheesiest ways possible. Listen, we get trying to drum up some all-star votes, but not at the cost of the team's positive momentum. It doesn't have any direct impact on the on-field play, but if your team's been in first place 6 weeks running, you don't need gimmicks, you just need to keep winning. And now, since the emergence of this WWE wannabe Donnie the Mets' bats have gone silent. You don't spit in the face of the baseball gods, you don't bring the circus into the clubhouse and you certainly don't cut full length videos trying to jump from fourth to first in voting. You get on the field and actually hit your way to the top.

The team back slid, barely scoring any runs over the 4 game series with the Nationals. Has the clock finally struck midnight on the BenchMob's Ball? Is the shine of the replaceMets wearing off to show the true blue Triple-A players? Probably, but this was never a longterm solution anyway. We made it through an avalanche of injuries and back out the other side with hardly a scratch on us and that's all you could ask for. The team remains 4 games ahead (as of this recording) and our big bats are finally coming back. Jeff McNeil is here with Michael Conforto on the way and the lineup that we were hoping for can actually start to get back on track.

Will that mean Rojas has to make some tough decisions? Yes. Will he make the right ones? Who knows. All we know is we have a nice cushion and in-division games to widen the field even more. The gauntlet is nearly over, but not before a double header death march starting with the Braves and Phillies.

deGrom has already been tapped to start game 1 whether we like it or not and KFC could not be more upset with that decision. It just feels like a disaster waiting to happen, but if the doctors and tests say he's good then we gotta believe that he'll continue to ascend towards goat-ness. Keep the ace in your prayers and buckle up because if there is a June Swoon looming, nows the time to snuff it out.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/wegottabelieve