Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Mets Week Three: And it all came crashing down

The Mets went 3-5 over the last, oh, let's call it "week." They faced some tougher competition and also embarked upon their first serious road trip. The fact that Carlos Delgado was the only starter who had a big week with the bat had a lot to do with their troubles. Also, Victor Zambrano pitched twice.

Delgado kept on hitting like the first baseman the Mets have been missing in the post-Olerud era. But leadoff hitter Jose Reyes now has a laughable .276 OBP. Paul Lo Duca is hitting like a guy who might lose his job to Ramon Castro were he not such a respected clubhouse presence. And David Wright's OPS has dropped below 1.000. That this happened against pitchers like Kyle Davies, Woody Williams and Clay Hensley is a bit troubling. Carlos Beltran sure picked an inopportune time to get injured again.

The Mets' pitching, on the other hand, had a pretty good week, aside from Mr. Zambrano's Wild Ride. Pedro Martinez and Steve Trachsel pitched well, Brian Bannister continued to get lucky and Tom Glavine had one good start and one bad start. The rotation could be looking excellent right now if they hadn't traded away two guys better than Zambrano and sent a third to the bullpen.

That bullpen was even better than the rotation this week, though. Even Jorge Julio managed to get his ERA under eight. Billy Wagner, Duaner Sanchez and Aaron Heilman have been a dangerous trio thus far, combining for a 1.15 ERA despite a rather pedestrian 28:14 strikeout-to-walk ratio. The Mets' bullpen could be either a real asset or very overworked, depending on what becomes of the back of the rotation.

Things don't get much easier in the next week for the NL East leaders, as the Mets finish up their series with the Giants and then head to Atlanta. The rest of the division is still under .500, so they're only catching up by virtue of the Mets losing. 12-7 and three games up in the division isn't a bad position to be in on April 25th. But the Mets need to start winning some games again to avoid squandering the lead the Braves and Phillies have so graciously spotted them.

1 comment:

Sparky said...

I was a big believer in Zambrano, but my support is begin to waiver. It's amazing how guys that pitch for bad teams seem to pitch well, then when they get to a good team, where you think they'll flourish, they don't.

Bannister's dad was one of those guys. Jeff Weaver pops to mind too. There are plenty of others. It's fodder for a future post.