Just Mets

For nearly the past three weeks, the Mets have played a lifeless brand of baseball, reminiscent of the days they claim they are well beyond.

It feels like that same old story from 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and half of 2014. And, that’s a story nobody likes.

It’s the story of players starting everyday who are good at a couple of things but are incomplete. The story of the station-to-station offense, and three or four hits needing to score a single run. The story of mental and physical mistakes plaguing them, beating them, and torturing them on a daily basis, one after the other, almost as if it’s a predictable pattern.

Sure, David Wright, Travis d’Arnaud, Josh Edgin, Zack Wheeler, Buddy Carlyle, Jerry Blevins, Jenrry Mejia, Bobby Parnell, Vic Black, and Dillon Gee are all on the disabled list. Eventually, that was going to catch up to them – it’s hard to sustain success when ten people are on the disabled list.

But, massive injuries and overexposing players were a part of that same old story, too.

What’s left is a fragmented New York Mets team, desperately trying to hold things down while they wait for d’Arnaud to come back, hope Wright can come back soon, get their late inning relievers back so people like Carlos Torres can pitch in more customary roles, and figure out how to get the three prominent hitters that are left to start hitting, and to start hitting with authority.

Again, the same old story.

Over the team’s last 17 games (since they were 13-3), they have gone 7-11. They have produced a .223/.275/.341 line. They have scored 52 runs, just under three per game. They have struck out 138 times, or a shade under eight per game. They have walked 36 times, or two per game.

They have 131 hits, or just about seven per game. They have 42 extra-base hits, just a little more than two per game. Thus, they’ve left 107 runners on base over those 18 games, which certainly supports their station-to-station offense.

At some point, team-wide slumps are no longer slumps. Eventually, they are what they are.

Yet, the Mets have managed to survive this malaise so far. Despite their 7-11 stretch, they’re still 20-14 and 1 1/2 games ahead of the Nationals in first place in the National League East.

They can thank their pitching, which is doing everything possible to give the offense a chance. The staff has posted a 3.15 ERA over that span, issuing only 44 walks and 135 strikeouts in their last 18 games.

But, even stellar pitching is slowly becoming insufficient to survive.

Again, the same old story…