Sunday, April 17, 2005
Marlins 5, Mets 2
And so you see what happens when the Mets don't score runs. Tom Glavine gave a less than stellar pitching performance, and the team's increasingly impotent offense was unable to compensate, bringing to an end the team's six game winning streak and their stay in the bucolic paradise of above-.500-dom. Of course, the defense wasn't so hot either.
Glavine went six innings allowing six hits and three walks while striking out four. This added up to four runs, three of which were earned. The defense was charged with two errors, but both of those were by Jose Reyes on the same play. Aside from that, though, Kazuo Matsui had a pretty awful day in the field. Or at least a pretty awful second inning. He looked bad in missing two seemingly playable ground balls and throwing high in failing to turn a potential double play. I'm not going to join the Shea Stadium crowd in calling for Miguel Cairo just yet, but it would be nice if Matsui would show us something, with the bat or the glove, before too long. He's not alone in struggling, but he really needs to start playing well with some consistency.
Also in need of a map detailing the location of the right track is Jose Reyes. Today's errors aside, he's looked good defensively. But his "not taking a walk" streak is looking a lot less forgivable now that it's not being accompanied by a bunch of hits. He's now hitting just .278, and while that looks okay under the "BA" column, it's a lot less pretty sitting beneath "OBP". It's rather harsh to call him hopeless after just 54 at bats, but he seriously needs to get to the adjusting already if he's going to remain not only in the lineup but atop it. Willie Randolph seems unlikely to make significant adjustments to his lineup just because they might make sense, so Reyes' getting going is a pretty important step toward getting the offense back on track.
Of course, the slumping isn't limited to the middle infield. David Wright has fallen all the way to .189/.318/.405. He's got a longer track record of success than Reyes, so his struggles aren't as troubling for the long term, but still, he could maybe get a hit every now and then. Carlos Beltran is down to .298/.365/.447. Doug Mientkiewicz is at .293/.348/.390. Mike Piazza's showing signs of life, but he's still at .200/.282/.400. Right now the hottest non-injured hitter the Mets have is Victor Diaz, who homered for the first time today and is hitting .321/.441/.500 out of the eighth spot in the lineup. Getting Cliff Floyd back in left field would be a potential boost to the offense, but I won't even bother speculating on when that might happen.
Shea Stadium in April isn't the easiest place to hit. In fact, Diaz's home run was the only one hit there in this entire six-game homestand. And it was a sucessfuly stand even in light of today's loss. So it's clearly not time to panic about the 6-6 Mets. Heck, even George Steinbrenner's reaction to the massively disappointing 4-8 Yankees is probably a bit premature. But if the Mets are going to keep winning, they need to start putting some runs on the board.
Tomorrow the Mets start a short series in Philadelphia against the Phillies (6-6). The Phillies rank near the middle of the league both in scoring runs (57) and allowing them (56), much like the Mets. Tomorrow, we see if Kazuhisa Ishii (0-1, 3.29) can put together two consecutive good starts as he faced off with Randy Wolf (0-1, 6.00). Wolf has put up pretty solid strikeout and walk numbers through his first two starts (11:3 in 12 innings), but he has given up fifteen hits and a pair of home runs already, which might account for the high ERA. Perhaps a trip to Citizen's Bank Park is just what the Mets' offense needs to put some runs on the board. ¶ joe | 11:59 PM |
And so you see what happens when the Mets don't score runs. Tom Glavine gave a less than stellar pitching performance, and the team's increasingly impotent offense was unable to compensate, bringing to an end the team's six game winning streak and their stay in the bucolic paradise of above-.500-dom. Of course, the defense wasn't so hot either.
Glavine went six innings allowing six hits and three walks while striking out four. This added up to four runs, three of which were earned. The defense was charged with two errors, but both of those were by Jose Reyes on the same play. Aside from that, though, Kazuo Matsui had a pretty awful day in the field. Or at least a pretty awful second inning. He looked bad in missing two seemingly playable ground balls and throwing high in failing to turn a potential double play. I'm not going to join the Shea Stadium crowd in calling for Miguel Cairo just yet, but it would be nice if Matsui would show us something, with the bat or the glove, before too long. He's not alone in struggling, but he really needs to start playing well with some consistency.
Also in need of a map detailing the location of the right track is Jose Reyes. Today's errors aside, he's looked good defensively. But his "not taking a walk" streak is looking a lot less forgivable now that it's not being accompanied by a bunch of hits. He's now hitting just .278, and while that looks okay under the "BA" column, it's a lot less pretty sitting beneath "OBP". It's rather harsh to call him hopeless after just 54 at bats, but he seriously needs to get to the adjusting already if he's going to remain not only in the lineup but atop it. Willie Randolph seems unlikely to make significant adjustments to his lineup just because they might make sense, so Reyes' getting going is a pretty important step toward getting the offense back on track.
Of course, the slumping isn't limited to the middle infield. David Wright has fallen all the way to .189/.318/.405. He's got a longer track record of success than Reyes, so his struggles aren't as troubling for the long term, but still, he could maybe get a hit every now and then. Carlos Beltran is down to .298/.365/.447. Doug Mientkiewicz is at .293/.348/.390. Mike Piazza's showing signs of life, but he's still at .200/.282/.400. Right now the hottest non-injured hitter the Mets have is Victor Diaz, who homered for the first time today and is hitting .321/.441/.500 out of the eighth spot in the lineup. Getting Cliff Floyd back in left field would be a potential boost to the offense, but I won't even bother speculating on when that might happen.
Shea Stadium in April isn't the easiest place to hit. In fact, Diaz's home run was the only one hit there in this entire six-game homestand. And it was a sucessfuly stand even in light of today's loss. So it's clearly not time to panic about the 6-6 Mets. Heck, even George Steinbrenner's reaction to the massively disappointing 4-8 Yankees is probably a bit premature. But if the Mets are going to keep winning, they need to start putting some runs on the board.
Tomorrow the Mets start a short series in Philadelphia against the Phillies (6-6). The Phillies rank near the middle of the league both in scoring runs (57) and allowing them (56), much like the Mets. Tomorrow, we see if Kazuhisa Ishii (0-1, 3.29) can put together two consecutive good starts as he faced off with Randy Wolf (0-1, 6.00). Wolf has put up pretty solid strikeout and walk numbers through his first two starts (11:3 in 12 innings), but he has given up fifteen hits and a pair of home runs already, which might account for the high ERA. Perhaps a trip to Citizen's Bank Park is just what the Mets' offense needs to put some runs on the board. ¶ joe | 11:59 PM |
