Also at Mack's Mets:
Images of Septembers in years past have burned themselves
indelibly in Mets fans' consciousness, and those less hardy souls among us are
wondering if it’s going to be, as the late Yogi Berra would say, a case of déjà
vu all over again. There’s no way to
sugarcoat how badly the team has performed of late after being virtually
flawless through the month of August.
The September record is a winning 12-9 but the team has chosen to slump
at precisely the wrong time. Both the offense and the pitching have gone south. Fortunately the Washington Nationals have been just as bad, so it's not as dire as it might have been. The team did manage to reel off what, eight wins in a row, yet them stumbled against decidedly inferior rosters. Still, have a look
at some of the September numbers. Any
team that’s counting on Ruben Tejada to deliver its offense may be in serious trouble:
Ruben Tejada 1/6/.405
Yoenis Cespedes 3/9/.306, however, last 10 days – 1/1/.182
David Wright 2/8/.304
Wilmer Flores 2/5/.283
Michael Cuddyer 0/1/.273
Daniel Murphy – 3/12/.262
Michael Conforto 4/9/.258
Curtis Granderson 0/6/.200
Lucas Duda – 1/2/.171
The starting pitching has been equally abysmal. After youngster Steven Matz and big Bart, the
numbers are not pretty:
Steve Matz, 2-0, 2.20
Bartolo Colon 2-1, 2.60
Noah Syndergaard, 0-1, 4.15
Jacob deGrom 1-1, 5.50
Jon Niese, 1-1, 5.75
Matt Harvey – 1-0, 5.94
Newcomer Addison Reed has what appear to be stellar numbers
but everyone watched him serve up the balls that resulted in 3 runs being
charged to Bartolo Colon on Wednesday night:
Addison Reed, 11.2 IP, 0.00
Jeurys Familia, 9 IP, 3.00
Tyler Clippard, 11.2 IP, 6.94
There are two philosophical approaches you can take when a
team is not going well. There’s the “dance
with who brung ya” approach which says the players are merely slumping now, but
without their contributions you wouldn’t be in first place. Stick with what’s worked in the past and
eventually it will all even out.
Then there’s the one which supports the oft-cited definition
of insanity in which doing the same thing but expecting different results. These people would advocate trying something
new since what’s being done right now isn’t working.
Personally, I’m of the belief that innings limits and rest
for weary bats and legs go by the wayside until the pennant is locked up. How many times have we seen pitchers lifted
prematurely or more productive batters given a day off in order to keep them
fresh? Had you locked up the pennant
already like the Pirates did, you’d have a ten day period in which you could
play every bench player for the remainder of the regular season. Instead, the Mets find themselves sweating
the two deadlines – to try to lock up the pennant before the final three games
atainst the Nationals, or, failing in that, winning it during that October set
when the Eric Campbells and Eric Youngs of this world should be getting the
starts instead of burning out all of your regulars just before the post-season who
were inexplicably babied during September.
4 comments:
Hey Reese, sometimes we get a break. We didn't in those 2 collapse years, as the Phils were relentless. We didn't with that great 1985 team because the Cards were having a super year.
We did, though, in 1969 when the Cubs folded, and we're getting one again as the Nats complete their fold up. I was worried after Sunday's loss to the Yanks, but the Nats did not play super villain. They folded like slacks in a dry cleaners shop. Very hopefully, we clinch tonight, and get a week to sail into the playoffs. I'd like home field vs. Dodgers, but whether we get that or not, I am going to enjoy the ride thru the end of the season.
Hopefully the first pennant of several straight.
I guess we can take a deep breath now with one to go.
My hope is the Nats game ends first and they lose first. Wouldn't that be a great Mets dugout?
What are you talking about here? Do you realize the team has a magic number of one, and you're talking about shaking things up and how poorly they've played lately. Is this a joke?
Unknown -
Reese wrote and scheduled this a couple of days ago when many of us were walking the tightrope...
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