Paul Articulates - Still waiting...

The Mets finished up a three game series in the minor league town of Sacramento on Sunday, beating a homeless A’s team that didn’t really show any punch at all.  It is almost embarrassing that the Mets lost the second game of the series to a team that can’t hit, especially when the Mets couldn’t score against one of their prospects that they traded away.  But that’s baseball.

So far this year, the team has managed to with ten of fifteen ballgames, but it had really been on the strength of two pieces of what should be a powerful machine.  Pete Alonso is crushing the baseball and the Mets’ bullpen has been playing “lock ‘em down and throw away the key” baseball.  Other than that I am still waiting…..

…waiting for the starters to begin bringing some length to their starts.  Two years ago they wore out their bullpen arms in the first three months of the year because the starting pitchers were averaging less than 5 innings per start.  The remainder of the season was a wreck.  Finally yesterday we got a solid performance by Kodai Senga who pitched seven scoreless innings by forcing contact early in the count which led to a low pitch count enabling the long outing.  We definitely need more of that, particularly in this 13 day stretch where there are no off-days.

…waiting for Juan Soto to start hitting the ball on the screws with regularity.  He is an outstanding hitter who also possesses an outstanding eye.  Pitchers were wary of throwing to him because of his reputation and because Pete hit .220 last year so they did not perceive a threat.  Well, Pete is now hitting .321 with a 1.091 OPS so they HAVE to pitch to Soto.  So far he has been happy to draw walks and set the table but what we would rather see is crooked numbers on the scoreboard because Soto is driving in Lindor and Alonso is driving in Soto.  We all know hitting is contagious, so swing the bat Juan, and infect the rest of the lineup.

…waiting for Mark Vientos to start hitting, and hoping that Brett Baty will as well.  In the ninth inning yesterday, we finally saw some at-bats by these two.  We kind of saw it coming with Vientos, who has been hitting the ball hard lately but getting no breaks.  His double was much needed for his confidence.  Baty has looked awful in recent at-bats, almost constantly getting into 0-2 and 1-2 holes then flailing at pitchers’ pitches.  His ninth inning triple was a rope and hopefully did something for his confidence.  Otherwise someone may take action on those internet trollers offering to trade a bag of used baseballs for our former prospect.

…waiting for Edwin Diaz to learn a pickoff move, or at least a slide step to eliminate the free pass of any baserunner from first to second.  I expect to be waiting forever on this one, so I am not holding my breath.  Diaz apparently has so much confidence that he will strike out the next guys that he does not need to hold anyone on first.  This will ultimately be his undoing, especially when the rest of the ‘pen is performing very well.

…waiting for Fernando Alvarez and Jeff McNeil to get back to health.  The good news is that both are playing rehab games now, with the former moving to Syracuse for today’s AAA game.  I am afraid of getting what I asked for here, as there is a downside.  Torrens is playing very well behind the plate and Hayden Senger has proven to be a very adequate MLB backup.  If Alvy rushes back with a swing affected by his still-healing hamate, he won’t be at his best and will take a step backward.  Meanwhile, since both Acuna and Baty have not hit well, McNeil’s return probably means that Baty will return to Syracuse believing that he can’t hit in the majors.  I would rather see him go on a tear to boost his confidence and turn him back into a player with potential – either for the Mets or as a valuable trade chip.

…waiting for some warm weather baseball.  As someone who has spent his entire life in the northeast US, I am certainly used to prolonged cold weather.  However, I really think that the Mets need some warm weather to get their bats going, both with the big team and with their minors affiliates.

What are you waiting for?