Just Mets

The Mets lost for the seventh time in ten games on Wednesday night, a lifeless 9-0 loss to the first rate St. Louis Cardinals at Citi Field.

The skid has resulted in the end of their stay in first place in the National League East, and they hold only a slim 1/2 game lead for the second wild card spot.

Still, the Mets aren’t panicking. At least not in public.

“We’re not even out of May,” Collins said following the loss. “There’s another ten-game winning streak that’s in there. There’s going to be another five-game losing streak that’s in there. We’ve got to play the Nationals 12 times, 13 times – whatever we’ve got them left. There’s a lot, a lot of baseball left. There’s no sense of urgency here.”

The Mets are certainly aware of their new home in the standings, but they’re not concerning themselves with such things at the moment.

“A lot of people want to talk about the Nationals. Did they panic when they were 1-7? No. And we’re not going to panic, either,” Collins continued.

“By no means are we scoreboard watching on May 20,” Michael Cuddyer said.

It’s less concerning the Mets actually fell out of first place than what falling out of first place says about the Mets team in their current state.

Of the ten losses the Mets have endured in the month of May, four have come via the shutout. They have a .282 on-base percentage and a .362 slugging percentage over that span with a 3.65:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. They have left 109 runners on-base in those 18 games.

What’s worse, these numbers aren’t much better stretch back into mid-April.

As I wrote on Wednesday, at some point it can no longer be considered a team-wide batting slump. When this has gone on for upwards of 70 percent of their season to date, that’s probably not an exception.

Sure, they’ve been without two key hitters for most of that time, but they’re not coming back with any magic potions, either, and who knows how long it will take them to find their timing and stroke once they do get back, whenever that is.

Memorial Day is almost here, and that’s a date teams begin to look themselves in the mirror. The Mets are certainly not the 13-3 team they were on April 23, They’re probably not the 10-15 team they’ve been since April 24, especially with David Wright and Travis d’Arnaud in the lineup.

But one thing that’s clear is they need more, both offensively and defensively, if they’re going to have a chance at meaningful games in the second half. But even if they augment the roster, the people who are here need to be better than what they’ve been so far in 2015. The execution needs to be better, the situational hitting needs to be better, the creativity needs to be better, and the decision making and mental sharpness needs to be better.

But the Mets also need the energy and swagger they had throughout camp and the first half of April. That’s noticeably absent on the field at this stage of the season, and that’s both alarming and disappointing.

One, two or even three people can’t fix those fundamental problems, which were there before Wright and d’Arnaud went away.