After an exciting eight game winning streak that made believers once again out of those who doubted, we’ve watched our beloved Metsies go 4-8 in their last twelve games, currently only one game over .500. The bright spot in that is that the last ten games have been decided by two runs or less, which means that this team’s pitching is not letting any game get out of reach, and its offense is fighting back. Still, the Mets keep finding new ways to lose.
But let’s not re-live last night’s ninth inning. No one wants to go through that again.
Once again, no run support for our Ace. If we can’t win with Santana on the mound, that leaves very little hope of winning with anyone else out there.
Jerry Manuel absolutely must shake the lineup, and all indications point to him doing so tonight. Reyes belongs batting lead-off. And here’s why. If you have to ask your third place hitter to sacrifice, then he obviously doesn’t belong hitting there. The third place hitter is an RBI guy. He should be swinging the bat. If you don’t think he can get the job done, then move him out. The point was for him to see better pitches there. But since the cleanup position hasn’t posed any serious threats behind him, that’s not happening. And while you may not have a capable cleanup hitter right now, it is not Jason Bay either.
David Wright continues to be the strikeout king. I don’t know what to do with him at this point. But my recommendation would be to bat him second and Pagan third. Try Barajas at cleanup. He’s been most of your power so far. Follow him with Francoeur, Davis, Bay and Castillo. Don’t worry about having an even flow of lefty-righty bats. Don’t worry about stretching the power deep into the lineup. None of that has been working anyway.
Manuel might want to try resting Wright and Francoeur, but not, I repeat not on the same night. Time off during a game is completely different than a day off that the entire team gets, because no game was scheduled. Maybe if they just sit back and take it all in, they can pick up on something.
Next, give “Nightly Nieve” a rest, for crying out loud. He is on pace to appear in 106 games this season. Not necessarily a good thing. If the Mets do have a shot at post-season play, they are going to need a strong, well-rested Nieve out of the ‘pen.
How about a team meeting? Why wait for things to really go bad before calling one? Why not do it now while there is still so much positive to focus on and it could be enough to ignite this team?
Just some thoughts …
