Dad and I went to the David Wright game in July.

June was a pretty bad Mets month.

And I think because of that, early July felt worse than it was.

But the Mets mostly righted the ship before a month-ending sweep at the hands of the San Diego Padres. (And that sweep was softened by the 7 games in a row the Mets won leading up to that series.)

The problem in July was when the Mets lost, they got nothing going. Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor, and Juan Soto all struggled this month, and even Brandon Nimmo faded in the latter part of the month. (Keep in mind I am writing this at the end of July, and the beginning of August is not a factor. I just had to delay the post until now because we had the monthly recap, and then the To-Do List, and then the weekly marathon training summary.)

The most important part of the month might have been David Wright’s number retirement ceremony (and team Hall of Fame induction) - not just for the event itself, but for guys like Lindor and Soto and maybe especially Alonso to see something like that happen and what could be years down the road.

I say especially Alonso because if he leaves as a free agent, even with the Mets team home run record, that number 20 retirement is unlikely..but if he stays and continues the production he’s had the first part of his career…well, that could be him.

That record, incidentally, could happen in August.

But this post is about July, and July ended with the trade deadline, where the Mets had one of heir most exciting deadlines in years.

They got three relievers - Gregory Soto, Ryan Helsley, and Tyler Rogers - and a great center fielder in Cedric Mullins.

Soto was the first move because the Mets were down lefty relievers and immediately I looked up his numbers against the guys he might be called upon to face in the post-season: Shohei Ohtani is 0-for-5 against him, Kyle Schwarber 0-for-2. That’s promising.

Otherwise the Mets did for themselves what most good playoff teams do - they shortened the game. Whereas before they were using guys like Reed Garrett and Ryne Stanek to bridge the gap to Edwin Diaz, now those guys could be appearing much earlier in the game, while Soto/Rogers/Helsley are all available to get the Mets to their closer.

The Mets did not add any starting pitching, which is something else they need. To me that means we might see some of their young arms come up down the stretch to contribute innings, which is kind of exciting.

The Phillies got better, adding an actual closer, something they’ve always struggled with. And the Padres added to an already stacked bullpen.

All of these cases, though, are dependent on having a lead to get to the closer for a save. And lately the Mets have not been getting many leads.

So even though there was a bit of an arms race at the deadline, it’s still going to come down to some bats over the next couple of months here.

The Mets had better start hitting.

The Mets through July: 62-47

Standings: 0.5 game ahead of Philadelphia