Three out of six ain't bad

Numerous injuries finally started to catch up with the Mets this week as they won a mere fifty percent of their games. This was the first Monday-to-Sunday period this season in which the Mets failed to win more games than they lost and the weekend series against Arizona was their first series loss to a team outside the NL East. They haven't had a win streak longer than four games all year, but this consistency has left them with the best record west of Boston.

A bruise to Carlos Beltran's knee was the final nail in the coffin of ordinariness as the Mets' outfield was so depleted that they resorted to starting David Newhan. Twice! Beltran says he'll be back in the lineup on Tuesday, but he also says he still feels "a little bit of pain" when he runs, which ought to disturb any Mets fan who remembers 2005.

The Mets' offense was the main culprit this week, as they scored just eighteen runs in the six games. Only two Mets--Jose Reyes and David Wright--had more than ten at bats and a batting average above .200. Carlos Delgado hit three home runs and a double, but unfortunately those were his only hits all week. Carlos Gomez has cooled off considerably since his hot start and is hitting just .229/.263/.286 for the year. If the Mets had anyone to replace him, the twenty-one would surely be back in AAA by now.

The team as a whole has stopped hitting for power, with a team slugging percentage of just .424 compared to last year's .445. On the bright side, the team OBP is up to a league-leading .348 from last year's .334. The team's 4.87 runs per game is good for third in the league. It's down from 5.15 last year, but that was also just the third best in the league. The average NL team is scoring only 4.44 runs per game compared to 4.76 last year.

It is to the credit of the pitching that the Mets were able to scratch out three wins this week. No Met starter allowed more than three runs or pitched fewer than six innings. Oliver Perez had two seven-inning, three-run performances and didn't get a win in either. Perez pitching well has become commonplace, but Orlando Hernandez's second post-injury start was more encouraging. He gave up just two runs on two hits and one walk in seven innings. Mets starters now have an ERA of 3.48, third best in the majors.

Up next for the Mets (35-20) is a three-game series with the under-phive-hundred Phils (28-29). Game one features a couple of starting pitchers who throw with their left hand and would likely not be described as "young" in Tom Glavine (5-3, 3.44, 41 years of age) and Jamie Moyer (5-4, 4.23, 44). El Duque (3-1, 2.20) and John Maine (6-3, 2.81) will follow for New York, Adam Eaton (5-4, 6.28, 3 years, $24.5 million) and Cole Hamels (8-2, 3.55) for Philadelphia.