This weekend was brutal. There’s no way around that. It looks like Terry Collins made the wrong move pitching Johan Santana on two days of extra rest. But, I can’t really criticize the move that much because at the time I truly believed that Collins made the right move. I was wrong. He was wrong.
So Friday night, the Mets pitching was terrible and their hitting was awful too. The bullpen was awful all weekend, and Rauch blew the game Sunday.
I’m not going to summarize how terrible this weekend was, but quite honestly this whole week has been terrible in Mets-land. The Mets five out of six games against the Nationals and the Yankees–two important teams to beat. (Yes, I know that the Yankees aren’t in the division, but playing well against them means something) Now, the Mets play another tough AL East squad, the Tampa Bay Rays. The series got of to a great start with the Mets winning 11-2 last night. But, this series could be fun to watch or it could be really, really bad again. There are still two more games left play.
R.A. Dickey will have to pitch 7 or 8 innings, giving the bullpen one or two inning to NOT blow the game. Chris Young, on the other hand, for the foreseeable future, can only be expected to throw five or six innings. He was great last night. However, the most important part about this series is to see if Johan Santana bounces back. The no-hitter was awesome. But, I have a scary feeling that in a couple of weeks SNY will do a split-graphic of Johan before the no-no and after the no-no, showing his stats before and after. Hopefully, the stats don’t get worse.
Source: Nick Laham/Getty Images North America
The Mets have struggled recently, but they are still above .500, and that’s with a fourth sting short-stop, no production from the first baseman, no production from a guy making $18 million, no production from the guy who was supposed to be the Mets leadoff hitter and center fielder, and tons of injuries to key players.
If someone asked me in March if I would sign up for 33-29, good for one game out of the wild card on June 13, 2012, I would say yes.
But, I’d like to see something change. The Mets have some hidden talent, and lots of players from the Mets Triple-A affiliate, the Buffalo Bisons, have helped out this season. The issue is that the guys that were supposed to perform have not.
Yes, Ike Davis hit a homerun yesterday. But, he hit a few in April and May also. That doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s back. It’s a step in the right directions. We’ll see if he can sustain last night’s success throughout the rest of the season.
Ike Davis, Jason Bay, Frank Francisco, Jon Rauch, etc… Those guys were supposed to be pretty good. Ike Davis was expected to hit 25-30 homeruns, Jason Bay once hit 36 homeruns, Francisco was a good closer, Rauch was a good reliever. What happened?
I don’t know. You don’t know. No one knows.
People often put too much stock into the manager’s ability to affect the record of a team. I think that Terry Collins has done a good job here. I think that the players that weren’t supposed to help the team that much (Baxter, Hairston, Kirk, etc.) have been doing a good job. The manager cannot win games by himself. His players need to play to their full potential. Right now, the bullpen is not playing to its full potential and neither are many of the Mets hitters.
So, the bottom line is this:
If the Mets want to have any success this season, Ike Davis, Jason Bay, Jon Rauch, Frank Francisco, and the rest of the guys that are slacking have to pick it up, while Dickey, Santana, Wright, Duda, and everyone else sustains success. Also, they need to get some guys back from the DL and Mejia in that bullpen.
Look, the Mets are above .500 with no production from Ike Davis, Jason Bay, and the bullpen. That’s saying something if you ask me.
