I don’t think I could pinpoint another week in the 2013 season where the offense was more flat than it was this past week. The Mets were blanked three times this week, and were on the verge of getting blanked for a fourth if it weren’t for Travis d’Arnaud in the 12th inning.The lineup is essentially filled with rookies and fill ins, so the inept offense is not too big of a shock; but that does not make it any less frustrating. At this point in the season, it would actually mean more to lose games than to win them, but of course the team cannot have that mindset; and we cannot have that mindset on this post. Here are your three players of the week (spoiler: they might look familiar)!
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: LUCAS DUDA
It is incredibly difficult to choose a player for this category when the team only scored a combined 13 runs on the week. It also makes it more difficult to try and add variety. Lucas Duda had a much better week this week than last week, collecting six hits and walking three times. His biggest blow came on Friday night, blasting a 2-2 hanging slider deep into the night to give the Mets the lead and the eventual win. Duda is doing a very pleasant job holding his own at first base, where he will remain for the rest of the season. In the offseason, the Mets have more important issues to address than first base, so seeing Duda standing by that bag on Opening Day 2014 is not a very far-fetched idea, nor is it a bad one. He has the power to compensate for a corner position, and his comfort at first is obviously directly related to his confidence and production at the plate. With Ike Davis‘s future still a huge question mark, these last few weeks will be an important few for Duda, who is trying to prove he can be a viable first baseman for a team that hopes to be within contention next season.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: MATT DEN DEKKER
Oh gosh, not this again! It seems as if you play center field, you’re probably going to be a player of the week. Matt den Dekker once again looked spectacular in center field, making each and every play that comes his way. His future as a potential fourth outfielder seems almost inevitable, seeing that the Mets are most likely going to go after one or two corner outfielders and Lagares has done more than enough to deserve a spot in center. However, even though I wholeheartedly agree with the den Dekker in center-Lagares in right thing they are currently doing, Lagares has looked uncomfortable in right as of late and it may be a good idea to get den Dekker some experience playing a corner spot. If he were to be a bench player, he would have to be able to have the flexibility to be inserted into any spot and still have confidence in him being there. I wouldn’t mind trying to run den Dekker in right and move Lagares back to center for a few days, just to see how Matt could play the field there.
PITCHER OF THE WEEK: DILLON GEE
We’ve all heard this one before. Dillon Gee shook off the rust from his shaky start on the 10th and came back to hurl 7 1/3 scoreless innings, striking out eight and only walking two on six hits. Though the Marlins were getting hits off of him, they were not hard hits; they were lucky hits that were able to find the holes and gaps. His fastball was well placed, his change up was downright nasty and his curveball was wonderful. I cannot express enough the importance of location for a pitcher, and Gee has all but perfected this. All pitchers make mistakes, but more often than not, Gee hits his spots, is able to throw his breaking pitches in the dirt for a good put-away pitch and his off-speed stuff can really make a hitter look silly.
HONORABLE MENTION: DICE-K MATSUZAKA
Maybe it’s not a fluke? Daisuke Matsuzaka once again gave another quality start, going seven strong, two-hit innings and winning his first game as a Met. His curveball was absolutely wonderful and his off-speed was well placed to induce pop ups and ground balls. I’m tellin’ ya, when he works faster, he works better. The game was only 2 hours and 47 minutes long; it used to take that much time just to get through four innings!
I realize this is almost a carbon copy of last week’s post, but bear with me here, it’s hard to choose different players when nobody else is really doing much!
