Just Mets

Normally, the record printed in the standings can be used to identify what a club is. In the case of the Mets, they have a .500 record, which suggests they’re inconsistent, at best.

But they’re not even that good right now. They’re more of a reflection of the 28-38 record they have posted since April 24, rather than the full body of work.

There’s a reason for that.

In the case of Saturday’s loss to the Dodgers, the Mets featured a lineup in which Darrell Ceciliani was batting fifth and Ruben Tejada was batting sixth against Zack Greinke, arguably the league’s best pitcher in 2015.

With all due respect to those two, they shouldn’t even be starting on a big league team. Again, they were centerpieces in a Mets lineup against a Cy Young candidate on Saturday.

The point is, it’s not the manager, it’s not the coaches. They can only work with what’s here, and there isn’t much here at the moment short of their brilliant pitching staff, which unquestionably deserves better than their daily ration of one or two runs, if they’re lucky.

Aim higher.

Yes, the Mets have encountered some pretty devastating injuries in 2015. They haven’t had their primary catcher for pretty much the entire season. Their third baseman has played in eight games in 2015, and that could very well be it for him this season.

But it’s worth noting that outside of those two players, the rest of them are active. Outside of a good week from Curtis Granderson, the Mets have gotten next to nothing from him, Lucas Duda, or Michael Cuddyer all season.

The roster just lacks a whole lot of talent on the field on a daily basis. This is potentially the most unbalanced roster the Mets have had under Sandy Alderson’s watch. It’s a roster with too many starting pitchers, sometimes too many relief pitchers, too many bench players and too many minor leaguers playing everyday, and not enough players who can start everyday at their positions at the big league level.

It’s a roster designed for power but has none of it. It’s a slow, station-to-station, singles hitting lineup, and even though the Mets have reshuffled their infield defense and made it as good as it can be with the personnel here, it’s still inadequate, at best.

That doesn’t even include the discussion about their subpar outfield defense.

What’s worse, the club can’t seem to figure out how to effectively manage the innings of their young starting pitching, messing with the one true strengths the club has. One day, it’s a six-man rotation, the next it’s a five, the next it’s a six-man light, or a five-man heavy.

It’s all ridiculous, and presumably because they simply have too many starting pitchers. Innings can always be managed with a regular five-man rotation. That’s what spot starters and off-days are for.

All of those shortcomings and decisions have been exposed at the plate and in the field.

That design simply can’t compete in an era in which the game has shifted towards speed and defense.

The stink of it is, 2015 was supposed to be different. Terry Collins and Sandy Alderson said so themselves all winter, and during spring training. Winning trumped everything, and everything else was secondary.

The culture had shifted, the mentality had changed. Right?

All of that talk and that heir of confidence and swagger seemingly ended when the bell rung.

And so, the Mets began the second half of their schedule pretty much the way they ended the first half of their schedule, and the many seasons which have preceded 2015.

In disappointing fashion.

Unfortunately, the Mets aren’t who they say they are in the standings. The advanced statistics suggest they’ve overachieved. They’re worse than 41-41, a lot worse, and there’s still 80 games to go.

It could be a long summer, once again.