Good morning, Mets fans!
Congratulations! If you are reading this, you have as many hits as the entire Mets pitching staff has in the 2014 MLB season. The Dodgers and Yankees will be entering a bidding war for your services shortly.
Mets pitchers, as Jared Diamond pointed out in his column yesterday, are 0-for-41 on the season, which is the longest hitless streak from a pitching staff to start a season since at least 1974. Because pitchers were much better at hitting back in the day, I would guess that the 2014 Mets actually have the all-time record.
Gonzalez Germen and Carlos Torres are 0-for-1. Zack Wheeler is 0-for-7. Dillon Gee is 0-for-9, Jenrry Mejia is 0-for-12, Jon Niese is 0-for-3, and of course, there’s Bartolo Colon, who is 0-for-8. I’ve always wanted to see Scott Rice bat, but that’s probably a pipe dream unless Terry Collins‘ love for him really gets out of hand.
Anyway, add those all up and you get 0-for-41. Now, it’s not all so bad. Mejia sprints down the line with impressive speed every time he makes contact, which sets an example for the “real” hitters (not that they follow it) and will probably result in an infield hit before too long. Bartolo Colon’s at-bats give the Mets the game’s premier Comedic Reliever. And Jon Niese, who has only had 3 at bats, will probably start cracking a few singles before too long; Jon has always been a fairly decent hitter.
But let’s be serious. So far, It has been painful to watch our pitchers try to hit. The other day, the Mets had runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs and the #7 hitter Anthony Recker at the plate. Recker struck out, and at that point, I think we all knew that the Mets weren’t going to get a run before the end of the inning: #8 hitter Ruben Tejada is an easy out and our pitchers have been automatic outs so far. So when Recker whiffed, I was ready to give up on the inning. Ironically, Dillon Gee worked a walk to load the bases for Eric Young, but EY grounded out to end the inning… a walk is NOT always as good as a hit, guys.
The Mets don’t their pitchers to start hitting .300, or anywhere remotely close. But the occasional hit out of the 9 hole deepens a lineup and makes opposing pitchers really pitch to everybody who comes to the plate, instead of, as Gary Cohen said when Gee stepped to the plate late in Sunday’s game, throwing a couple pitches down the middle and “getting it over with”.
Have a good day, Mets fans. We play in Citizens Bank Park tonight, so if Jon can hit a pop-up: the hitless steak will end emphatically, with a home run.
LGM!
