During Monday night’s series opener against the Seattle Mariners, Curtis Granderson went 0-for-5 and struck out four times giving him 93 strikeouts for the season. He is on pace for 149 strikeouts this season and is batting .235 with 14 home runs and 43 RBI in the first year of his four-year deal with the Mets.
The team as a whole struck out 12 times against the Mariners as they succumbed to their third straight loss on this road trip in which they were outscored 13-3.
These last three games certainly gives one pause for concern as it’s quite obvious we’re not watching the same energetic team we saw entering the All Star break. The slump hasn’t been just on offense, but the pitching hasn’t been as sharp and the defense hasn’t been as crisp.
My biggest fear after the Mets finished the second half with an 8-2 run, was the timing of their four-day break.
But then again, a team is never as good as it looks when it’s red hot, or as bad as it looks when in the throes of a horrendous slump. The Mets are still by and large a team that will struggle to play .500 ball, and this is exactly what the last four months have shown.
The Mets are seven games under .500 and nine games back with 63 games left to what could be their sixth straight losing season.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that we are not making progress, but things are moving a lot slower than anyone expected as even David Wright and Jeff Wilpon have recently pointed out.
