So, what do we have? The Mets have just been swept by the team that, coming into the series, was the worst team in the National League. And what was the common denominator in all three defeats? Well, that would be the stat of the Mets leaving at least 10 men on base, in each one of them.
Based on that mythical hitting philosophy, most games end up being the same. Most opposing starting pitchers can not get far past the 5th or 6th inning against these Mets hitters. However, 3-2 counts, walks, and the moral victory's that go with it, are currently not resulting in ACTUAL wins.
In my mind, I believe I kept trying to chalk it up to some sort of bad timing. You know, like games where there are two men on base, but the guy at bat is the 8th place hitter.... or the pitcher.... or there are two outs.... or Grandy against a lefty..... or CY against.... well, CY against the opposing pitcher (oh, that's right, he blooped a single to score a run last night).
Ok, let me not veer off totally into frustration, anger, and despair, and go off on another rant about this team. It's not going to get me anywhere. There's plenty of people, especially on Facebook and Twitter, who can handle the rants.
Can any of this be resolved? Can the Mets turn this around? Can they go back to winning close games, based on defense and pitching? Can somebody get deGrom a win? I can't stop thinking about men......... men on base, that is.
Is it the personnel? Sure, I guess you can say that. More than half the lineup is hitting under .250, so, statistically, with or without men on base, the hitters currently on the Mets have a 75% chance of failing to produce a run scoring hit.
Is it the hitting philosophy? Sure, I guess you can say that, too. A change in hitting coach hasn't seemed to stop Mets hitters from starting every at bat, down 0-1, 1-2 or 0-2 in the count. Last night, I watched Travis d'Arnoud watch two pitches go pretty much down the middle of the plate. Down 0-2 count, he then swung at a pitch high and away, and fouled it off. Yeah, nothing eventually came of that at bat.
Maybe its purely about health, confidence and timing. d'Arnoud keeps finding himself continually on the DL, racking up medical bills in stead of racking up needed plate appearances and experience. Chris Young, along with players like Campbell, Terada, Flores, Abreu, and Duda..... and pretty much the entire lineup (minus Murph and Wright) do not necessarily play every day, so how often do they technically come in 'cold', like a relief pitcher, into the batters box, on any given night, with the pressure to produce.
Speaking of any given night, the Mets seemed to have a bright and shiny new lineup every single night. Who's up first? Ey Jr., Lagares, Den Dekker, CY. Who's at cleanup? Grandy, Campbell, Duda....(hey, didn't Josh Satin hit cleanup this year?). For all the talk of the concerns for Duda's confidence, the man has randomly hit some monster home runs, including homers, and doubles, which won a game, or gave his team a chance at a win.
Again, this post is not meant to be a ranting, angrily attempt at bashing my favorite baseball team. This post is about simply continuing to attempt to figure out the direction this team is heading in.
So, for now, lets pretend everyone gets healthy, quickly........ what should happen? Should Lagares keep leading off? He's not walking a lot, but he keeps hitting for a good average, and he has succeeded, and also attempted to create hits through bunting.
Are Wilmer Flores, Tejada and d'Arnoud gonna be on this team in the next few years? If yes, then consider the facts: they have all shown potential to hit the ball; they are all age 25 and under; they are all not necessarily going to further develop offensively while being stuck in the 7th and 8th spots in the batting order, so why not move them up. Tejada has been hitting a little better lately, and he (unlike CY) has a RECENT history of hitting leadoff, so why not put him there until Lagares gets back?
Do the Mets, at this point, still seriously believe Travis d'Arnoud as their future everyday catcher? If so, why not bat him 2nd, or 5th? Depending on who you ask, nobody seems to believe that ownership will be paying Murphy what he will likely deserve, going into next year, and especially 2016 (which I believe is a big free agent type label or whatever for him) so maybe not worry about leaving up there in the top half of the order.
And, as for Chris Young..... well, hey, if you will continue to play him, I will root for him. But, maybe, just maybe, you should consider him in that 7th or 8th spot.
In the end, all I really seem to have are questions. But, you know what, I think all this team has is a bunch of question marks.
All I want is for my team to win, or lose, fair and square. I want everyday hitters, playing their same positions, batting in the same order, and (in a possible non-playoff and developmental year) youth being served on the 25 man roster, and everyday lineups, and rotation.
All us Mets fans truly want is to have something to root for..... You gotta believe !!!!!
4 comments:
I don't have all the answers for this team, but Chris Young is clearly not one of them.
Either sit him or let him bat either 7th or 8th when he plays. Also, find anyone that will take him off your hands while you still pay 2/3rd of his 2014 salary.
No, the Mets do not have a prospect outfielder to step into the lineup yet (looks like Puello isn't going to be the man) but that's fine for now... play guys like Brown or den Dekker that will always give you 110%.
You only have to play one outfielder (Granderson) to get the most out of him. He's the best we got.
Juan Lagares has won the centerfield slot.
It could be worse.
I've always hated platoons......but in this case, I'll take a LF of den dekker amd Brown facing whatever side of the arm pitches on a given day for the rest of 2014.
But it doesn't matter what I like.....along with .200 hitting CY, old EY will eventually come back, and the Mets will shove him right back out there, to also hit around .230, because he is there 'sparkplug'....
It seems to me that a main part of the problem is TC's refusal to trust the young players until forced to. Otherwise most of the batting order and lineup changes you suggest would have already been done.
Hey Ernest
I am going to expound on it a bit on Sunday, but some hitters are horrible after they get to 2 strikes. Duda is. I looked yesterday and Recker is (how about 4 for 60 in his career once the count goes to 0-2). Some guys can work a pitcher, some guys can't. I haven't studied it, but high strikeout guys can't. They strike out.
Driving in the car last night and Duda is up late in the game. Yes, down a run, but count goes to 3-0 and Howie Rose does not say "vicious cut by Duda" but instead those words too often hurt "fastball right down the middle, called strike 1." Flew out on the next pitch, which may not have been as good a pitch.
Brown/Dekker platoon suggested. Great, but Brown hits righties better than Dekker, so Brown should get at least 50% of the at bats. Terry Collins probably was swayed towards Young because he got on 3 times last nite - 2 walks and a bloop - so he'll probably play when he shouldn't. Howie said "he is having trouble catching up to mid-90's fastballs - heck even hi 80's fastballs." If a major leaguer has that said about him, he should not be playing. If they said that about Conforto, and then drafted him, you'd say they were nuts.
I am running out of suggested tweaks to this team from the minors, but I would send Recker down, call up Juan Centeno, who likely would hit a contact .240 to .260, and let him split catching with d'Arnaud 50/50 until d'Arnaud starts to hit. .190 from the catcher's spot leads to losses.
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