Rock Bottom

By: Mike Rifkin

Many things have gone wrong so far this season for a team that won 101 games last season. On Sunday, the Colorado Rockies defeated the New York Mets 13-6. The loss gave the series to the Rockies, putting the Mets under .500 at 17-18. The Mets are now 3-7 in their last ten games. Over the last little stretch, the Mets have lost series to the Nationals, Tigers (sweep), and the Rockies. 

The Pitching staff was supposed to be the strength of the club. Justin Verlander has only made one start; Max Scherzer just returned from a ten-game suspension but still has an ERA of 5.56. David Peterson’s struggles led him back to Syracuse. Carlos Carrasco had three poor starts before getting hurt. Kodai Senga has been the most reliable starter, with a 4-1 record and an ERA of 3.38. Senga is also the only Mets starter with multiple quality starts (six innings giving up three runs or less). The Mets are 22nd in MLB in team ERA, a stat last year they were seventh in. The backend of the bullpen has done its part in the absence of Edwin Diaz. David Robertson is six for six in save opportunities so far. For the most part, Adam Ottavino and Drew Smith have done their job, but everyone else has had moments, good and bad. 

Offensively the Mets are 21st hitting.236 They have a team slugging percentage of .383; the team they are chasing in the NL East, the Atlanta Braves, has a slugging percentage of .464. Pete Alonso is the only Met with double-digit home runs with 11. The Mets need some of their guys to revert to what they were last year. Starling Marte had 16 home runs and 63 RBIs last season with a slash line of .292/.347/.468. So far this year, he has one home run and eight RBIs with a slash line of .213/.292/.278. Last season Mark Canha made his mark with 13 home runs and 61 RBI’S with a slash line of .266/.367/.403. So far this season, he has three home runs and ten RBI’S with a slash line of .222/.304/.370. Francisco Lindor had 26 home runs and 106 RBI’S with a slash line of .270/.339/.449. This season he has five home runs and 25 RBI’S with a slash line of .217/.320/.426. If you go back to the winter, Mets fans were clamoring for GM Billy Eppler to get another bat, especially if the young players would stay in Syracuse to start the season. Eduardo Escobar’s struggles at the plate made the Mets call up one of their top prospects Brett Baty. The 23-year-old third baseman has two home runs and six RBIs with a slash line of .286/.344/.446. An injury to Omar Narvaez forced the Mets to call up top prospect Francisco Alvarez. The 21-year-old has a slash line of .220/.264/.320 with a home run and four RBI’S. 

Now if the veterans continue to struggle, the Mets might be forced to call up Mark Vientos and Ronny Mauricio, who are crushing it in Syracuse. The leash has to be getting shorter for certain guys because Mets fans didn’t expect to be 17-18 in May and closer to the last-place Nationals than the first-place Braves. After Sunday’s Game, Mets DH Daniel Vogelbach said, “It’s better to get it out now and play our best baseball in the end… I think we’re going to be just fine.” Well, last year, they played well until the end before an awful September, but this is what we saw in September the Mets losing to bad teams. So they’re going to have to right the ship soon, and that starts Tuesday against a Reds team they went 5-1 against last season and outscored 36 – 13