Remember a few years back when the Braves were rolling to 14 straight division titles, and the Mets seemingly lost 80% of their games against Atlanta? Thankfully time and Atlanta’s mediocrity for a few years has evened that back out, but now the Mets have a new regular nemesis–the Florida Marlins.
The Mets, who lost 11 of 18 games against Florida last season, are so far 4-8 against them this season, including losses in Puerto Rico the past two nights. In the standings, the Mets are 1.5 games back of Atlanta and leading the NL wild card race, and they are 6 games ahead of the Marlins, who are 37-40 on the season. But for some reason, we just don’t match up well against these guys.
There is talent on the Florida roster, but not the kind of talent that should be dominating our Mets. Cody Ross, who is batting .295 this year, is batting .413 against the Mets with a .652 slugging percentage. Against the Phillies, Ross is batting .143. Jorge Cantu, who is hitting a mediocre .265, has feasted on Mets’ pitching for a few years now, and is batting .304 against them this year. By comparison he’s hitting .219 against the Phillies. Ricky Nolasco is 7-6 with a 4.84 ERA this season, but 2-0 with a 3.96 against the Mets.
I haven’t exactly dove in to figure the rest of the teams’ stats against the Mets, but it’s not pretty, at least from our side of the ledger. And this ineptitude against the Marlins can’t keep happening if the Mets want to reach the postseason this year.
