Tom Brennan - SAME OLD STORY

It's the same old story.

The Mets' season starts so hopefully.  Last year, 11-1.  This year, 9-4.

Then, the same old story.

The Mets find new and surprising ways to lose - a lot.

Last year, it was a deluge of injuries.

This year, injuries have been a factor, and being 2nd in baseball in being HBP with 18 has not helped, but it hasn't been the injuries, by and large.

It's been just plain bad pitching.

A rotation I thought could be top 5 going into spring trainng will have to be top 1 the rest of the way to end up in the top 5.  

Team's starters' ERA?  5.21.  Compare to Tampa Bay's 2.04.

The term "Relievers" is a misnomer.  The Mets' pen provides little relief. 

Pen ERA? 5.63, 28th worst. 

Last year?  Also 28th worst. 

Consistency - of the wrong kind.

Meanwhile, the crosstown rival Yanks shrug off a slew of injuries, stare into adversity, and...what else???

They've surged to a 17-11 record and are 9-1 in their last 10, with a team ERA vastly better than the Mets.  

Their fans have been turning up in medical clinics because they hurt their faces smiling too much.

The same old story happened last year too - just as Mets fans got cocky at 11-1, they then watched the Yanks surge past them as they devolved into half a season's worth of putrid baseball.

The fast start, then mystifyingly bad baseball, has happened again this April in Queens.

CAN THE PITCHING REALLY BE THIS BAD?  

WILL IT IMPROVE SUBSTANTIALLY?

I SURE HOPE SO.  AND SOON.

On another "same old story" front, Todd Frazier did hit the grand slam to turn a solid lead in one game into a laugher...but he is 5 for 25 with no walks and 5 Ks - including 0 for 5 last night in a one run loss.  The Yanks discarded him.

Keon Broxton?  6 for 41, 19 Ks.  This year and last, 20 for 119 (.168) with 47 Ks.  The Yanks would already have discarded him.  

(Note: MLB vet Rajai Davis last 5 AAA games, 9 for 20, 4 walks, and fellow vet Carlos Gomez 9 for his last 32 - both are better than Keon).

We did, of course, discard d'Arnaud (2 for 23).

Those 3 are 13 for 89 (.146).  Every year, there is a pocket of putrid hitting.

In 2017, we had the glacial starts of Reyes and Grandy.

Last year, in 2018, it was another Reyes iceberg.

This year, meanwhile, J.D. Davis (OBP .397, slug % .484) was helping this team's offense hum - now he hardly gets up as Frazier plays.  Same old story - DUMB.

And the offense has slowed down.  Coincidence?

I could be wrong, but I think TODD should be the one playing sparingly.

That's all I have to say - a different chapter of the same old story.

My brother contributed a title for that same old story: 

"THE METS SUCK"