Thursday, May 26, 2005
Braves 3, Mets 0
Eighteen innings. That's how long it's been since the New Mets scored a run. Now, this is hardly a historic drought. Two consecutive shutouts isn't a reason for outright panic, even if it has extended a losing streak to four games in a row and five out of six. But maybe, just maybe, going two whole games without putting a run on the board will give someone a clue that the seventh spot in the lineup isn't the appropriate position for the team's best hitter.
David Wright didn't have a monstrous game. Just a double and a single in four at bats to extend his hitting streak to seven. The double led off the third inning, yet somehow the fact that David Wright didn't get to the plate until the third inning isn't the bad part. The bad part is that David Wright doubled to lead off an inning and he didn't score! According to Baseball Prospectus, in 2004, starting with a runner on second and no outs, the average number of runs scored in an inning was 1.1596. Now, obviously a run isn't scored every time this situation occurs and sometimes that's just dumb luck. But sometimes it's that the runner on second is batting in front of Doug Mientkiewicz, Victor Zambrano and Jose Reyes, among whom the highest on-base percentage entering this game was .301 and the best slugging percentage .415. Mientkiewicz actually did get a hit following Wright's double--he had two in the game--but it was a popup to left that looked like it might have and probably should have been caught, so Wright couldn't advance past third. Zambrano couldn't even bunt the ball in the direction of the ground. And Reyes, whose spot in the lineup makes about as much sense as Wright's, grounded into the first of his two double plays on the night. And a double play ball has to be pretty darned routine for someone with Reyes' speed to get doubled up.
Among starters who have been with the team since the start of the season, Wright leads the team in OBP by upwards of fifty points. He also leads the team in runs scored with twenty-six, but the margin there is only one run. And he probably wouldn't even have that many if not for Victor Diaz hitting .296/.430/.556 out of the eighth spot in eighty-one at bats. For not only has Wright been having to depend on the Mets' eighth hitters, who are, aside from Diaz, batting .217, and pitchers to drive him in. But he's also only tied for third on the team in at bats, though he moves into sole posession of third past Mike Piazza if you count plate appearances. And he's only that high on the list due to his durability, having played in all but two of the team's games, better than all of his teammates save Reyes, who's missed just one and stepped the plate about thirty times more than Wright.
The first position in the lineup might not be the ideal spot for Wright on either a very good offensive team or this one. But given his OBP of .407 and Reyes' .288, I'm inclined to just say switch the two of them. Willie Randolph was willing to get Kazuo Matsui out of the second spot in the lineup after weeks of not hitting. Why not hold Reyes to the same standard? And arguing that the twenty-two year old Wright needs to "pay his dues" and earn his way to a better spot in the lineup is not only stupid, it's pretty inconsistent given that Reyes is six months younger than Wright and has been batting leadoff since Opening Day. The Mets are now 23-24 and five games behind the Marlins for first place in the division. This isn't a dire situation requiring a drastic shakeup. But every day that David Wright continues to bat seventh, behind the likes of Reyes, Miguel Cairo and Marlon Anderson, will be another blow to my opinion of Randolph's managerial ability.
The beneficiary of the Mets' offensive ineptitude was Zambrano, who shocked the world with a halfway decent start. He lasted six innings and allowed three runs, but only one of those was earned. Of course, the unearned runs were the result of his throwing the ball to third base about as accurately as he usually does to the plate, so it's hard to feel sorry for him there. He did only walk three batters, which is a sort of progress for him, but then he only struck out two, so that K:BB ratio remains as ugly as ever. He did only give up four hits. There is no dark side to that particular stat.
Aaron Heilman pitched in relief again and did a merely mediocre job. He lasted an inning and two-thirds and only struck out one while giving up two hits. But he didn't allow any runs, thanks in part to some support from his fellow relievers. Dae-Sung Koo relieved him with a runner on third and two outs in the eighth and hit the only batter he faced. But Roberto Hernandez struck out the next batter to keep the margin at an insurmountable three runs.
Tomorrow the Mets try to pull out of their tailspin in a place where the stakes will be even higher. They head to Florida to take on the first place Marlins with a chance to either make up some ground or dig themselves a hole in a four-game series. Kris Benson (2-1, 3.70) starts for the Mets having pitched well in each of his last two starts. Veteran Frank Castillo will make his first major league start since 2002 for the Marlins. If the Mets are going to win a game, this would be the one. ¶ joe | 12:04 AM |
Eighteen innings. That's how long it's been since the New Mets scored a run. Now, this is hardly a historic drought. Two consecutive shutouts isn't a reason for outright panic, even if it has extended a losing streak to four games in a row and five out of six. But maybe, just maybe, going two whole games without putting a run on the board will give someone a clue that the seventh spot in the lineup isn't the appropriate position for the team's best hitter.
David Wright didn't have a monstrous game. Just a double and a single in four at bats to extend his hitting streak to seven. The double led off the third inning, yet somehow the fact that David Wright didn't get to the plate until the third inning isn't the bad part. The bad part is that David Wright doubled to lead off an inning and he didn't score! According to Baseball Prospectus, in 2004, starting with a runner on second and no outs, the average number of runs scored in an inning was 1.1596. Now, obviously a run isn't scored every time this situation occurs and sometimes that's just dumb luck. But sometimes it's that the runner on second is batting in front of Doug Mientkiewicz, Victor Zambrano and Jose Reyes, among whom the highest on-base percentage entering this game was .301 and the best slugging percentage .415. Mientkiewicz actually did get a hit following Wright's double--he had two in the game--but it was a popup to left that looked like it might have and probably should have been caught, so Wright couldn't advance past third. Zambrano couldn't even bunt the ball in the direction of the ground. And Reyes, whose spot in the lineup makes about as much sense as Wright's, grounded into the first of his two double plays on the night. And a double play ball has to be pretty darned routine for someone with Reyes' speed to get doubled up.
Among starters who have been with the team since the start of the season, Wright leads the team in OBP by upwards of fifty points. He also leads the team in runs scored with twenty-six, but the margin there is only one run. And he probably wouldn't even have that many if not for Victor Diaz hitting .296/.430/.556 out of the eighth spot in eighty-one at bats. For not only has Wright been having to depend on the Mets' eighth hitters, who are, aside from Diaz, batting .217, and pitchers to drive him in. But he's also only tied for third on the team in at bats, though he moves into sole posession of third past Mike Piazza if you count plate appearances. And he's only that high on the list due to his durability, having played in all but two of the team's games, better than all of his teammates save Reyes, who's missed just one and stepped the plate about thirty times more than Wright.
The first position in the lineup might not be the ideal spot for Wright on either a very good offensive team or this one. But given his OBP of .407 and Reyes' .288, I'm inclined to just say switch the two of them. Willie Randolph was willing to get Kazuo Matsui out of the second spot in the lineup after weeks of not hitting. Why not hold Reyes to the same standard? And arguing that the twenty-two year old Wright needs to "pay his dues" and earn his way to a better spot in the lineup is not only stupid, it's pretty inconsistent given that Reyes is six months younger than Wright and has been batting leadoff since Opening Day. The Mets are now 23-24 and five games behind the Marlins for first place in the division. This isn't a dire situation requiring a drastic shakeup. But every day that David Wright continues to bat seventh, behind the likes of Reyes, Miguel Cairo and Marlon Anderson, will be another blow to my opinion of Randolph's managerial ability.
The beneficiary of the Mets' offensive ineptitude was Zambrano, who shocked the world with a halfway decent start. He lasted six innings and allowed three runs, but only one of those was earned. Of course, the unearned runs were the result of his throwing the ball to third base about as accurately as he usually does to the plate, so it's hard to feel sorry for him there. He did only walk three batters, which is a sort of progress for him, but then he only struck out two, so that K:BB ratio remains as ugly as ever. He did only give up four hits. There is no dark side to that particular stat.
Aaron Heilman pitched in relief again and did a merely mediocre job. He lasted an inning and two-thirds and only struck out one while giving up two hits. But he didn't allow any runs, thanks in part to some support from his fellow relievers. Dae-Sung Koo relieved him with a runner on third and two outs in the eighth and hit the only batter he faced. But Roberto Hernandez struck out the next batter to keep the margin at an insurmountable three runs.
Tomorrow the Mets try to pull out of their tailspin in a place where the stakes will be even higher. They head to Florida to take on the first place Marlins with a chance to either make up some ground or dig themselves a hole in a four-game series. Kris Benson (2-1, 3.70) starts for the Mets having pitched well in each of his last two starts. Veteran Frank Castillo will make his first major league start since 2002 for the Marlins. If the Mets are going to win a game, this would be the one. ¶ joe | 12:04 AM |
