This Mets team is struggling to get started this year. Not for a lack of production from its 4-5-6 hitters, or so the boxscore would have you imagine. Carlos Delgado has hit the ground running with a .343 BA and 3 dingers. Carlos Beltran is hitting .333. Ryan Church is batting a stellar .419 with 6 doubles!!
How is it that the Mets are sitting in 4th place with a 4-5 record?
Only a week into the season, and the Mets are already amounting an insane level of men left on base. Their clutch hitting seems to drop off the table and roll out the door after the third inning.
Jose Reyes has started the season hitting .243 with a 50% stolen base percentage. He has scored a grand total of 5 runs so far, while Daniel Murphy has scored double that hitting right in front of him. Considering the Mets biggest loss margin was two runs so far, I would venture to guess that the Mets record might be considerably different if Reyes had gotten on base a little more. Gary, Keith and Ron drill it into us with their “Reyes runs” and “As goes Reyes, so do the Mets”, but we can’t have all of our eggs in Jose’s basket.
David Wright is currently tied for 4th in the majors in strikeouts with 13. Adding just one more would put him in a tie for 1st! Can someone please inform David that he needs to play to the strengths of this ballpark? David’s strength at the plate was his eye and his ability to go the other way. This season, he reminds me of how hard it used to be to watch Jay Payton face any right handed pitcher with a semi-decent slider. I think the book is out, and it says that David is struggling with the low-outside pitch. It just doesn’t look like he can reach it. Is he trying to hard to pull the ball? I really can’t say, but it looks like he needs to regroup.
What are people’s thoughts on giving David a night off and starting Tatis at third? I know that he has been only an outfielder since he joined the team, but Tatis was a starting third basemen when he played with the Cardinals.
Thoughts?
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I’d like to see Tatis get some AB’s but this team isn’t better with David on the bench. We all know how streaky Wright can be, he’ll break out of it. No worries, it’s April 17th.
I think that it’s only April thinking has to stop, if we won 2 more games in April last year we would have clinched the Wild Card.
Having said that I agree Wright will break out of it and start hitting. Remember in 2007 he struggled early in April but had an MVP type season that year. I cannot remember if he started out slow last year but I don’t think April is his best month.
Ok… then only 153 games left.
I just read that Tatis will start at second base on Sunday as per Jerry Manuel.
Wow, that’s interesting. I wonder if he’ll stick with that after Castillo’s winning hit tonight.
Maybe it’s my imagination, but to me David looks a little heavier around the waist this year. He also seems to be a little slower on the base paths. I just wonder if David is not quite in peak shape and needs to take a few pounds and add some more muscle. Does he need to hit the exercise room for an extra hour a day? Maybe Tatis should get a game in at 3rd while David works out behind scenes for 3 innings during the game. Perhaps David could reach the low outside pitch if he was just a little sleeker.