mets bench

The Mets were very quick with the excuses after they lost three of four games to the Rockies in Colorado and then getting swept by the Marlins in Miami.

According to Terry Collins and David Wright, the Mets have not played well in recent years in either of those ballparks, and by the way, both teams were very hot. Additionally, the Rockies have “some great hitters” and the Marlins have “some great young pitching”. How could we compete with all that?

“Sometimes you just have to tip your hat to the other team,” said Terry Collins, while David Wright added:

“We have an off day on Thursday and then we regroup. We’ve been playing better at home as of late, so hopefully we’ll take care of business at home.”

On Friday night, the Mets had their fans endure a dreadfully long night of offensive futility. It was so bad, that even their own Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez couldn’t hide their frustration.

“This is just awful” said Cohen in the eighth inning. “Terrible,” added Hernandez. Both of them called the game the worst they had seen in a long time.

At 16-18, the Mets now share last place in the National League East with the Phillies who snapped their four-game losing streak last night. You’re welcome, Ryne Sandberg.

Friday night’s 11-inning, 3-2 defeat made it four straight losses for the Mets and their seventh in eight games since they sent out that “Loyalty Oath” letter urging fans to flock to Citi and buy up tickets because the team was better and a 90-win season was on the way.

What was an awful marketing gimmick at the time, looks even worse now.

Their season worst performance at the plate came as a result of fifteen players left on base, 12 strikeouts, and a 1-for-11 showing with runners in scoring position.

David Wright looked at the bright side.

“Obviously, it’s a concern,” said the Mets captain. “But It would be more of a concern if we weren’t getting guys on base.”

The Mets squandered opportunity after opportunity to blow the game wide open, but instead left the bases loaded twice, and couldn’t get a run home in the fifth with runners on second and third and nobody out.

The Mets are scrambling.

Wilmer Flores has already replaced Omar Quintanilla and Eric Campbell will replace Josh Satin today. However, Satin or Quintanilla were hardly the problem as both were primarily bench players. The bigger issue is this:

We need to get them three going.

For a start, let’s bat TDA second instead of burying him in the eighth spot.

Additionally…

  • David Wright is mired in the longest home run drought of his career and hasn’t homered since March 31 – Opening Day – 155 plate appearances ago.
  • Bobby Abreu, who was supposed to be the veteran player with the great approach, is batting .176 with a .211 on-base in 19 plate appearances. And several analysts have remarked that he has lost his once great bat speed. Could the 40-year old be the next one to go?

The shame in all of this offensive futility is the solid starting pitching that has gone to waste. Jon Niese is second in the National League with a 1.82 ERA and Dillon Gee is in the Top 10 with a 2.51 ERA.

Don’t blame the approach…

The Mets want us to feel good about their offensive approach because apparently they hit the ball harder than any other team in the league, despite a league worst slugging percentage and OPS.

So don’t feel too bad my fellow fans. Instead, sign that letter and count your blessings.

Oh, and sometimes you just have to tip your hat to the other team… Right?

mmo