Sunday, July 08, 2007
Gimme a break
After two straight winning weeks, the Mets stumbled into the All-Star break losing five of their last seven. The offense continued to struggle as they scored just twenty-six runs. The pitching got absolutely slaughtered in a three-game sweep at Colorado, giving up thirty-four runs but they settled down a bit, allowing just seventeen in a four-game split in Houston.
Carlos Delgado did have another good week at the plate, hitting .345/.394/.552 with one home run. But the only other Met regular with an OPS over .700 for the week was David Wright at .353/.353/.559. Ruben Gotay and Ramon Castro did both have good weeks in part-time roles.
It would be nice to see both of these guys get more playing time in the second half of the season as neither Jose Valentin nor Paul Lo Duca is doing much of anything with the bat lately. Finding out if Gotay and Castro can continue to hit with more playing time could also pay dividends next year when both Lo Duca and Valentin could be gone. Castro will probably never be much more than a solid part-time bat, but at just twenty-four years old, Gotay has a chance to be the Mets' second baseman of the near future. He won't provide nearly the defensive value of a healthy Valentin, but he does appear to have some power in his bat. His .514 slugging percentage is second only to Castro's .538 for the team lead. The stop starter is Wright at .506.
The bad news this week wasn't just limited to the scoreboard as injuries continued to pile up. Jorge Sosa and Oliver Perez each went to the DL with supposedly minor injuries, leading to Jason Vargas and Dave Williams making starts in the majors. Each pitched three and one-third inning with Williams allowing eight runs and Vargas nine. Perez and Sosa should be back after the break. Carlos Gomez will be out quite a bit longer with a broken bone in his left hand. As of Sunday, the Mets only had three outfielders on their major league roster and one of them was David Newhan of the .291 slugging percentage. Why they would send Ricky Ledee down but keep both Newhan and Sandy Alomar, Jr., a third catcher, on the roster eludes me, but I figure there will be a little roster rearrangement before they play another game. Lastings Milledge did finally play some baseball games this week as he went eight-for-nineteen with a double, a triple, a home run and a stolen base for AA Binghamton. Hopefully he'll be back in New York in time to start in left field on Thursday. ¶ joe | 11:43 PM |
After two straight winning weeks, the Mets stumbled into the All-Star break losing five of their last seven. The offense continued to struggle as they scored just twenty-six runs. The pitching got absolutely slaughtered in a three-game sweep at Colorado, giving up thirty-four runs but they settled down a bit, allowing just seventeen in a four-game split in Houston.
Carlos Delgado did have another good week at the plate, hitting .345/.394/.552 with one home run. But the only other Met regular with an OPS over .700 for the week was David Wright at .353/.353/.559. Ruben Gotay and Ramon Castro did both have good weeks in part-time roles.
It would be nice to see both of these guys get more playing time in the second half of the season as neither Jose Valentin nor Paul Lo Duca is doing much of anything with the bat lately. Finding out if Gotay and Castro can continue to hit with more playing time could also pay dividends next year when both Lo Duca and Valentin could be gone. Castro will probably never be much more than a solid part-time bat, but at just twenty-four years old, Gotay has a chance to be the Mets' second baseman of the near future. He won't provide nearly the defensive value of a healthy Valentin, but he does appear to have some power in his bat. His .514 slugging percentage is second only to Castro's .538 for the team lead. The stop starter is Wright at .506.
The bad news this week wasn't just limited to the scoreboard as injuries continued to pile up. Jorge Sosa and Oliver Perez each went to the DL with supposedly minor injuries, leading to Jason Vargas and Dave Williams making starts in the majors. Each pitched three and one-third inning with Williams allowing eight runs and Vargas nine. Perez and Sosa should be back after the break. Carlos Gomez will be out quite a bit longer with a broken bone in his left hand. As of Sunday, the Mets only had three outfielders on their major league roster and one of them was David Newhan of the .291 slugging percentage. Why they would send Ricky Ledee down but keep both Newhan and Sandy Alomar, Jr., a third catcher, on the roster eludes me, but I figure there will be a little roster rearrangement before they play another game. Lastings Milledge did finally play some baseball games this week as he went eight-for-nineteen with a double, a triple, a home run and a stolen base for AA Binghamton. Hopefully he'll be back in New York in time to start in left field on Thursday. ¶ joe | 11:43 PM |
