The catalyst of the New York Mets lineup might be beginning to heat up. Curtis Granderson led off Thursday’s 5-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers with another leadoff homer to get the scoring started for the Mets. It was his fifth leadoff homer this year.
Granderson, 35, went 2-for-4 on a night in which the offense was able to put together 13 hits. The offense has struggled mightily for a long stretch of games and have now shown signs of coming back around in their last two contests.
“I think we collectively press a little bit, all trying to get the big hit from time to time,” Granderson said. “But if we continue to do the little things we know we’re capable of, it doesn’t matter where everyone is in the lineup. We have a chance to score a lot of runs and win a lot of games.” (NY Post)
The “Grandy-Man” has had a rough start to his season, hitting to a .208/.306/.435 slash with 25 walks in 216 plate appearances. He is currently on pace for a .227/.326/.414 season while mashing 16 homers with 43 RBI and 51 walks. In comparison to last season where his final line stood at .259/.364/.457 with 26 homers, 70 RBI and 91 walks. Mets hitting coach, Kevin Long believes it has been a little bit of bad luck for Granderson this season.
“I just feel like he’s had days when he’s swung the bat really well and didn’t get rewarded, and it turns into an 0-for-5 or 0-for-4,” Long said. “And then he follows it up with a day that is not as good as that day. He’ll tell you, and I’ll tell you the same thing, we need some balls that are in play that are hit pretty good to fall, and we’ll kind of go from there. Nothing alarming.”
Getting Granderson to come around and be closer to the player he was last year is exactly what this offense needs. Having their catalyst getting on base in a consistent matter is necessary for the success of an offense that needs to get better with situational hitting.
