Mets fans, hello. Welcome to the 10th official installment of the Mets 10-Game Report. They are giving us hope again. Keep the whiskey at hand.
Previous Results:
And the latest:
Volume 10:
Games 91-100
Record: 6-4!
@ ATL L 7-1
@ WAS W 6-2
@ WAS L 4-0
@ WAS L 3-1
@ HOU L 5-4
@ HOU W 10-3
@ HOU W 8-3
vs COL W 7-3
vs COL W 4-0
vs COL W 7-0
Runs Scored: 48
Runs Allowed: 30
Team BA: 91/327 = .278
Team BA w. RISP: 27/74 = .365 (Nice!)
Team BA w. RISP & 2 outs: 12/34 = .352 (WOW!)
HRs: 6
Team ERA: 86IP, 27ER = 2.82 (That. Is. Awesome.)
Starter ERA: 59.2IP, 21ER = 3.19
Bullpen ERA: 27IP, 6ER = 2.00
Team BAA: 76/313 = .242
HRs Allowed: 6
Errors: 6
GIDP: 10
Fielding DP: 14
SB: 2
Volume 10 MVPs:
Starter: Livan Hernandez got two wins in this volume with two very nice starts.
Reliever: Pedro Feliciano's arm may fall off by the end of the season, but boy has he been good.
Hitter: Luis Castillo & Jeff Franceour have been tearing the cover off the ball.
Volume 10 "Just Shoot Me in the Face!":
Starter: Oliver Perez drives me crazy with all of those stupid walks. To his credit, he hasn't had a true meltdown start yet.
Reliever: Tim Redding stinks.
Hitter: Ya know, I actually don't think anyone deserves to be here for this.
Analysis: After four straight volumes of pure crap, the Mets have finally turned in an over .500 result, posting a solid 6-4 for Volume 10. And they had to work hard for this one, as they started the volume out 1-4 and came back to win 5 straight.
They truly hit rock bottom after that Washington series. And I guess after that, they figured the truly worst was behind them, and perhaps it gave them a sense that they were about to start anew. Who knows. It all comes down to pitching though at the end of the day, especially starting pitching, and the Mets have been getting excellent starting pitching. Santana is back to normal, Big Pelf - dare I say - seems to be back to normal, Livan is good again, Niese has given the team a lift, and Ollie - though he hasn't been great - hasn't been classically horrid Ollie.
And the offense? I'm not sure how to explain the offensive surge. Basically - you have Pagan and Castillo playing extremely well and getting on base. DW is DW. Franceour has been scary good, and has provided protection for Daniel Murphy. So now you have 5 guys in that lineup who really can hold their own. This takes pressure off a player like Cora who is not really an everyday player. And look - even bad teams go through hot offensive streaks. Now, I hope that's not what is going on with the Mets, but I'm not about to declare them new and improved and ready to storm into first place in the WC chase. Not yet, anyway. I need to see another 20 games or so of this.
But there's hope again, which is both exciting and nerve-wracking. I had resigned myself to the fact that the Mets were not going to do anything but lose. But now, with this 5 game winning streak and with them only 5 games out of the WC lead, and with Beltran, Reyes, Delgado, Putz, and Wagner all looming and looking to come back sometime next month, there is hope.
Next up for the Mets: 6 more games on the homestand - 4 vs the D-Backs, and 2 vs the Cardinals. They must win 4 out of those 6, which would make for a 7-3 homestand, which is excellent. Then they go on the road to play the Padres for 4 games. So of the next 10 games, 8 of them will be against teams that are well below .500. The Mets must take advantage. I mean, simply put, they can't afford to lose much anymore.
Around the NL:
Phillies: 4-6, 7-3, 5-5, 7-3, 7-3, 5-5, 2-8, 6-4, 8-2, 6-3
Braves: 5-5, 5-5, 4-6, 6-4, 5-5, 5-5, 4-6, 5-5, 6-4, 6-4, 0-1
Marlins: 9-1, 3-7, 4-6, 3-7, 4-6, 6-4, 5-5, 7-3, 5-5, 6-4, 1-0
Well, since that putrid 4-14 stretch that the Phills suffered, they have really turned it on. So much so we Mets fans have stopped paying attention to the division race and have a hearts set on the WC race now. Both the Braves and the Marlins have been playing solid baseball as of late, but if the track record of the season as a whole means anything, they should be back to .500 and below soon.
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