Is it just me or is there a pattern developing here? A great stretch of games followed by disappointment, followed by another positive stretch which is then followed by more disappointment… it’s something that makes the 2013 Mets such a frustrating bunch to watch. But let’s veer away from all of that negativity and pick out some of the positives of the week– 3 to be exact.
Since the splitting up of categories seemed to work well for most of us last week, I figured that I’d keep the posts like that permanently. It also works out nicely this week, because there wasn’t exactly any one player tearing it up on both ends of the spectrum. Nonetheless, these three players did enough in their respective categories to be named our Players of The Week.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: OMAR QUINTANILLA
With the absence of Ruben Tejada and no real player on the bench to back him up, Omar Quintanilla has some big shoes to fill and manage while we wait for Tejada to return. From a defensive standpoint, Q has been a perfectly fine fit in the middle infield. His diving stop and Jeter-esque toss in midair were some plays that were a key part in Marcum’s first win of the season on Wednesday. Quintanilla’s defense was incredibly important behind Marcum, as the lack of defensive support has been hurting him (and a slight contributor to his than winless season) all year. He also was part of a few double plays in Thursday’s makeup game in Colorado and Saturday’s 5-1 win over the Nationals. It is vital that Quintanilla make an impact in this lineup, and as of now he is doing a fantastic job holding his own.
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: JOSH SATIN
All hail Satin! The placeholder for Duda/Davis has been an unexpected offensive bright spot this past week. Having got the start at first all week, he collected 3 RBIs: two of them coming in Friday’s bullpen meltdown game, his other coming in Tuesday’s circus game (he seems to have a thing for getting RBIs when the bullpen screws up). His recognition of the strike zone is very impressive, as reflected in his .500 OBP (3 walks included). His 7 hits (two of them being doubles) in 17 at bats give him a .412 batting average for the week and a .375 average on the year. Small sample size? Sure is, but if he can keep a steady pace of getting on base regularly, it will be a huge boost for a club whose players don’t find the basepaths too often and whose real first baseman of the future is still getting himself together in AAA.
PITCHER OF THE WEEK: SHAUN MARCUM
Finally, there’s no 0 next to his name anymore! Shaun Marcum absolutely dazzled on Wednesday, tossing 8 scoreless innings of 4 hit ball. His command was the best it had been since the relief outing against Miami, only surrendering 2 walks and throwing 96 pitches. Since Marcum is not a strikeout pitcher, a good chunk of his outs are the result of the defense behind him (which couldn’t have been more stellar). Not only that, but he must make the right pitches in the right location to be able to force the groundout or the flyout, which is exactly what he did. He rarely let a pitch catch too much of the plate; when he did, he was able to focus himself and not make the same mistake twice in a row. Although the win loss record is a hot topic of debate whether it’s necessary or not, it’s a big moral victory for Marcum to finally eliminate that 0 from his record.
HONORABLE MENTION:
Marlon Byrd continues to rake. In the month of June, he is batting .282 with 16 RBI and 6 HR, a personal best for him in a calendar month. That gives him a total of 12 HR and 40 RBI on the year, along with a .257/.310/.486 line, something that nobody would have thought likely from the 14 year vet (and he’s clean this time! We promise!). He’s been playing everyday and is in desperate need of a day off, but that won’t do anything to harm his trade value, which is probably at its peak right now. But we can’t forget his defense as well: he made that spectacular diving catch on Friday’s game; to which I leaned over to my friend and shamelessly said, “That’s going to be the next no hitter catch”. Come on, you know you were thinking that when you saw it too!
