Reese Kaplan -- How They're Winning Is Anyone's Guess

Watching a Mets game these days takes a little bit of research to figure out who exactly it is they are trotting out there in the lineup.  Yesterday’s doubleheader (true to its name) made it doubly difficult to follow as people who are not part of Plan B, Plan C or Plan D wound up playing a significant role in the two games.

Lost in the “Who’s that?” moments were some fine pitching performances from Marcus Stroman, Edwin Diaz, Joey Lucchesi (really?) and Jeurys Familia.  Robert Gsellman may be playing himself out of a job as he has options left and they will need to dispatch someone when Seth Lugo returns.  Jacob Barnes started off badly this year but lately seems to be putting it together.  

The batters continued to do their disappearing act in both games, yet somehow they managed to string together just enough runs to win.  The opening game’s final score was 1-0 and the nightcap’s final score was 4-2.  It could have been worse had they left Gsellman in the game but Luis Rojas had a relatively quick hook and it was an effective move.

The announcers and fans have all been riding newcomer Cameron Maybin off to an ugly 0-26 start to his Mets career.  Today he had a few balls hit that surely looked to be destined to result in base hits, but some slick fielding and lucky bounces rendered them more of the frustrating same.  You could see the pain on Maybin’s face when that last one didn’t become a base hit.  He looked positively devastated.  

Of course, given the injuries (including the bruise to Dom Smith’s knee), it means that Maybin is going to be a regular alongside other possibilities like Brandon Drury, Kahlil Lee and Billy McKinney.  For his early Mets incarnation, McKinney has looked quite solid as an outfielder.  The issue for the Mets, however, is less these days about defense than it is about offense.  Towards that end the above trio (plus Maybin) are not likely to add much in the way of punch.

In the second game Patrick Mazeika got his first-ever start in a Mets uniform playing first base.  He seems to be more comfortable at the plate than he is in the field, but he did manage to help the other infielders on a few challenging plays.  Unfortunately he went hitless during his premiere start, so he fits right in with the rest of the substitute crowd.

Then there are others who just seem to get robbed no matter what they do.  Jonathan Villar is a good example who has hit the ball well in many at-bats but then finds himself gunned down by fielders who successfully address his attempt to be aggressive and add another base with his legs.  Still, he looks like a better overall quality player than many had believed when he was signed.

The real issue, of course, is why Dom Smith and Francisco Lindor are not contributing towards scoring runs.  It felt so good (and out of character) for Lindor to deliver a hit today, but he’s got to figure out what has been going wrong since arriving in the NL.  Smith is harder to figure out as he finished his last two seasons very strongly, but he’s beginning 2021 as a sub-.250 hitter which is not commensurate with his abilities.  I’ll leave the injured others alone for the moment.  

The question is whether the manager and batting instructor are doing anything to address the hitting woes.  Are they encouraging walks?  Are they looking to steal bases (no!)?  Are they playing against the shift when swinging the bats?  What exactly are they advocating, because whatever it is surely isn’t working.  Still, the last time I looked the club is in first place, 4 games over .500 and with a 2.5 game lead, so somehow the tragic show isn’t all bad.