McDonald: Pitching Is Great But The Offense Isn’t – The Mets Are In Mid-Season Form

It’s nice to the New York Mets in mid-season form.

The pitching is great, as expected. And the offense isn’t so much.

Seems like the June swoon has come early this year.

Just five hits and the only run coming on a Jay Bruce homer, who had three of the Mets five, meant they wasted another Jacob deGrom outing and now fall to 1-1 on the season after the eventual Braves win in 12 innings.

“We’ve got to get these guys in a routine,” said manager Terry Collins. “These guys thrive on repetition and we’ve played only two games in seven days.”

Okay that’s true. With the West Point game rained out last Friday, the Mets regulars didn’t play since last Tuesday before Opening Day.

But the Mets played two games for 21 innings, batted in 20 of them and scored in only two.

Of course, this is a very small sample and there’s no reason to get on the ledge just yet. But tonight, both Neil Walker and Jose Reyes are hitless on the season and Yoenis Cespedes and Curtis Granderson are hitting .125.

Something has got to give. They are not a team that hits .171 as a team with .280 on-base percentage, and a .243 slugging percentage.

In their defense, the Mets balls aren’t just carrying out of Citi Field. Tattooed balls that seem to have it right off the bat are dying in the outfield. This is nothing new in Flushing and will get better as the season gets warmer.

“It’s cold and a heavy air and when the rain hits too it doesn’t help,” Bruce said.

And the right fielder is the one bright spot for the club right now, having the start that is endearing him to the fans. Now all he is doing is “swinging at strikes and taking balls for the most part.” If it was only that simple for everyone else.

But remember, losses in April count as much as ones in September, so you don’t want to give away good outings like the one by Jacob deGrom last night.

These aren’t the same Braves as last season and Julio Teheran and Bartolo Colon are no slouches on the mound. Tonight, the Mets will get Jaime Garcia, who is a lefty and we all know how well the Mets handle lefthanders.

“We are trying to play baseball,” Bruce said.

And that means the Mets will always have another chance to redeem themselves.

If the weather holds off they will have their chance tonight.

Just remember though, the season is only two days old.

About the Author

Joe McDonald

Editor-in-Chief
Joe McDonald is the founder and former publisher of NY Sports Day. After selling to i15Media in 2020, he serves as the Editor-in-Chief and responsible for the editorial side of the publication. In the past, Joe was the managing editor of NY Sportscene magazine and assistant editor of Mets Inside Pitch. He has covered the Mets since 2004.

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