NEWSFLASH: so far, the Mets’ offense stinks.
As a team, they’re hitting .218, good for dead last in the National League. Team slugging percentage is .333, also 15th. As far as hits go, they again bring up the rear with 97 – and none of their pitchers has a safety as yet. Team OBP is .292, next-to-last. Their OPS+ is 72. Not 172, just 72.
NEWSFALSH: overall, their pitching hasn’t been much better.
The Mets’ hurlers aren’t missing too many bats, so far in this young year, sporting a team-wide WHIP of 1.434 – a number actually helped by two good starts from Jon Niese and outstanding relief work by Carlos Torres and Gonzalez Germen. They are 12th in the NL in walks allowed, dead last in home runs surrendered. They’ve given up 128 hits, good for 13th in the League and they’re in the lower half in strikeouts, notching 104, 10th.
NEWSFLASH: the Mets haven’t been particularly lucky, either.
According to Baseball-Reference.com, the Mets’ BABIP is .283, while league-average is .306. They are over-performing their Pythagorean record by exactly one game.
The Mets’ record is 6-7. They are tied for third in the NL East with the Phillies, only three games out of first place, two out of second. We are not exactly sure how, given all that bad news above.
They have achieved this sort-of-lofty record with almost no contributions from their big boppers, David Wright and Curtis Granderson. The only person in the lineup who was hitting consistently – Juan Lagares – has most likely landed himself on the DL, having tweaked his hamstring in last night’s victory in Arizona: see ya in August, Juan. Only recently has semi-regular first baseman Lucas Duda started hitting. As recently as last night, in fact, when he raised his batting average 80 points by going four-for-five.
From this vantage point, it seems that the Mets have a strange knack for getting the “big hit,” but not anything extra. They have had a lead in 12 out of their 13 games played – yes, even including the Bartolo Colon implosion in Anaheim – and the only game in which they did not ever lead featured a furious ninth inning comeback that just fell short, but they seem to shy away from tacking on any more than absolutely necessary. And to be fair, apart from their disastrous first three games of the year, the overall bullpen work has been stellar. Yes, Jose Valverde melted down against an old nemesis on Saturday night – a game the Mets ended up winning somehow – and after two extra-inning affairs and one mammoth blowout on the West Coast, they are definitely running on fumes, but apart from Scott Rice, the ‘pen men have not been cringeworthy. So the formula right now looks like pitching, the barest amount of runs necessary and nerve. It would appear the Mets have that last quality in spades.
If they can hang on through April, with a little more luck there might be other things to talk about.
Follow me on Twitter @CharlieHangley.
What Welles movie is that picture from?
“Lady From Shanghai” I think.
Nice catch Joe! This is not a recipe for success. We can only hope that Wright and the gang do come around eventually, but good lord this is a tough team to watch.
Small. Sample. Size.
None of the numbers mean anything about the record right now. Sure we are magically only 3 out of first place, but at the same time only 1.5 games out of last. One series sweep from an NL E opponent, and the entire standing turnover.
Otherwise the things you mention are quite scary because you dont just accidentally fail to hit, or give up an embarrassing number of HRs. Also, these worry me because they represent extensions of the same lackluster brand of play that the Alderson era has come to accept as normal. As it stands, outside a few individuals, the team stinks collectively.
And I could almost detect a smile on TCs face knowing Lagares will be in the DL so he can have both Youngs starting. His comment about Grandy being the only sure starter and the rest fighting for ABs astounded me, much like it did for Gary and Keith. But TC is off the hook and now can bench Lagares. You know, who would want to start a guy who is the best offensive player and defensive player on the team? We gotta make room for light hitting lead off guy that doesnt get on base. Real genius right there.
My point was that it’s basically a miracle in itself that they’re not somewhere between 1-12 and 4-9…
Yeah, I follow where you are. Like JG said, we hit some remarkable luck with opposing team injuries, or 4-9 might be the optimistic side of the deal!
If this pattern rolls on for 100 games, our record will put us near the Cubs and ‘Stros….and Marlins (Im not drinking the Kool-Aid on them at all).
Bad pitching will always stop bad hitting, and vice versa.
@ChrisF … +1. I’d like to smack Collins in the face sometimes.
@Charlie … I think the Mets caught some good luck too. Jordan Zimmerman, Aroldis Chapman, Josh Hamilton, Andrelton Simmons, Devin Mesoraco, various starting pitchers both from Atlanta and Arizona are among the players that missed games against us. Yeah, my thinking is 4-9 probably is about how good we are right now.
Most Mets player have really ugly looking stat lines right now. Yet the games for the most part have been fun to watch. Maddening at times, but ultimately, good entertainment in my opinion.
Games aren’t played “on averages”, especially on short sample runs. They’ve pitched well enough to win most of the games. The bullpen blew the 1st game, and continued to blow up in the series. The 14-2 game also skews results.
They look like what they are—a team that can challenge .500— 78-83 wins
More….if the GM would make a move at SS and address a terribly Unplayable bench.
The Mets are at .500 against some good teams while statistically awful. Almost 10% of season gone and they are not wallowing below .500. Still time to improve the roster. Do you hear me Sandy, Still time to improve the roster.
Has Tejada been terrible? I hadn’t thought so…..
His AVG. is going the wrong direction. He”s been adequate-to-fine in the field.
Yeah…I took a deeper look at his offensive stats and you are correct. It’s headed downwards.