Baseball is a funny, fickle game. A lot can change in a week. For example, after being in a good place at the time of last Monday's column, the Mets lost six out of seven games, including the first time in team history they were swept by the Marlins in a four game series. That's the Mets for ya, we make the worst kind of history. Now they're in the NL East's basement. So what are the problems?
The most obvious one right now is the rotation. Apparently, there hasn't been a win picked up by one of the starters in something like fifteen games now. That is not a recipe for success. It is also, I think, related pretty damn directly to the fact that the starters get seem to lost longer than six innings, at best, which in turn is directly related to why the bullpen has been shakier lately, since they're always working. And now the pitching situation is even worse since there are only three starters right now, what with Niese missing his next start and Ollie moved into the pen. Speaking of which, would anybody else be totally fine if Ollie just sat out in the pen so long moss started to grow on his ass? I mean really, who wants to see him coming into a close game in the sixth or seventh inning? The only acceptable time to ever bring him into a game is when its such a ridiculous blowout that most people have left the stadium and everyone at home has stopped watching already. Then you can let him eat all the innings you want.
The other problem is the offense, which really seems to be a walking paradox. So many players on the team, particularly the guys who would be considered the big bats, aren't just slumping, they're slumping in an ugly way. And yet, this is a Mets team that never seems to be out of games. Even in yesterday's mess of a game, when they were down 7-0 at one point, they came back and scored six runs! Then, when the pen gave up another three runs, the Mets came back and scored two. Sure, it wasn't enough to win, but the heart is there. Although as David Wright said something similar to this, the heart is nice to see, but it isn't helping in the win-loss columns. David himself really does illustrate the contradictions of this team: he's hitting .278 with 8 HRs, 28 walks, an OBP of .400 and an SLG of .534; but he's also only got 37 hits, 26 RBI, and a ridiculous fifty-one strikeouts. Fifty-one! David right now is a walking conundrum.
And so are the Mets as a whole. Sure, losing streaks happen. The baseball gods are finicky and luck is a bitch. There's still plenty of time, though. If they can get the pitching back on track, if the guys can get into some hot streaks at the plate... who knows?
Like I said before, a lot can change in a week.
If what I'm hearing is true the Mets should go after Roy Oswalt with everything they've got. Oswalt is a phenomenal pitcher and would provide a powerful 1-2 punch like the Arizona Diamondbacks team had with Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson back in the day! And while were at it, why not add Pedro Martinez back onto the team?
ReplyDeleteBecause adding age isn't what the Mets need to do.
ReplyDeleteAnd Minaya will never go after Oswalt.