Reese Kaplan -- The Backstory on the Losing is Familiar

When things are going well you find ways to win ballgames that weren’t really in the planned playbook.  A ball drops in the outfield that wasn’t roped by the Mets hitter, an asleep-at-the-wheel pitcher or catcher who allows a runner to get an extraordinary jump advancing to the next base, or an overly generous umpire giving your pitchers every borderline call.  These things just  seem to fall from out of the sky and winning teams somehow make things happen when they do.

Of course, the flip side is when you’re in a slump every 107 mph scorcher off a Mets hitter’s bat goes straight into a fielder’s glove, a pitcher throws a nasty pitch right down the middle of the plate that the umpire calls for a ball, or a middle infielder makes an acrobatic play to turn two only to have the 2nd base umpire rule that the receiver of the toss wasn’t on the bag and you only turn one. 

It’s still a week into a rain-filled schedule but the pitching other than Sean Manaea and Edwin Diaz appears not quite ready for prime time, the hitting other than Starling Marte and Francisco Alvarez seems not quite ready for the Little League All Star Game, and the overall competitive attitude and execution focus is desperately in need of a dangerous level of 5-hour ENERGY consumption.

Thus far we hear a lot of the usual chatter from the hitting coach condemning the execution of the entire team’s offensive game.  We’ve heard about rookie manager Carlos Mendoza looking to shuffle the thus far ineffective lineup construction to put the more productive hitters in the middle where they might help set up big innings.  

Any of these actions can have an impact, but when you get right down to it the players are professional athletes and it’s on them to deliver what they are paid to do.  It’s a little soon to be proclaiming failure by the manager and coaches.

Right now it appears to be a case of thinking back to the evolution of playing skills that taught these eventual major leaguers how to make the most of their natural talents.  

When was the last time you saw fundamentals like hitting behind the runner, a hit and run or multiple runners executing attempted stolen bases at the same time?  It seems nowadays that the hitters are taught to swing with all their might for the fences at the expense of any other offensive approach.

Of course, the pitchers also need to work on their approach to the game as well.  Knowing that the offensive side is struggling, they need not to put extra pressure on themselves to strike out every hitter or keeping all hitters off base.  

Instead they need to get opponents to offer up bad swings by using location around the plate and deception with delivery.  It is not necessary to throw the ball through a bat, but simply to make hitters not get their best wood on their attempted swings. 

For now reach deep into your personal reserve of patience and understand that what rolls downhill must also go uphill eventually.  Right now we’re merely waiting for that climb to begin.