f you look at the National League East, you know the beast of the division in the defending World Champion Philadelphia Phillies. They have so much troubles, they can’t seem to choose among who gets the demotion to the pen when former Met Pedro Martinez joins the team.
Despite the injuries and all the failed expectations coming out of Citi Field with the Mets, they are still just seven games under the .500 mark. That’s quite a remarkable record considering they have been without Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, and Carlos Delgado for a major portion of the season.
With the team in tact last year, they scored 84 more runs than they gave up. In 2009, they have scored 33 less runs (with 472) than they have given up (505). In comparing 2008 and 2009, they have gone from +84 to -33 in the runs scored/given up differential which is 117run difference.
Still, despite the drop off, Jerry Manuel and Omar have this team competitive. How is this possible?
They have almost no home run ability playing in Citi field where Sheffield leads team in Home runs with 10 Home runs, and are last in NL with 67.
Where is the Mets saving grace that has kept them in games despite the drop off in production?
They are 3rd in the NL in OBP with a .341 mark. They lead the national League in stolen bases, and are fourth in NL in total bases with 1443.
So despite the slugging outage this year with Mets, they are getting people on base and moving across the base paths with the small ball type of mentality.
These fill in players are doing quite the job. They certainly have not given up despite being overmatched with their bats against many of their opponents. Makes you think the Mets are bringing this mentality from the movie Animal House:
Bluto: Over? Did you say “over”? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!
Otter: Germans?
Boon: Forget it, he’s rolling.
Bluto: And it ain’t over now. ‘Cause when the goin’ gets tough… the tough get goin’! Who’s with me? Let’s go!
Another positive for the 2009 Mets is their defense that backs Johan Santana and company. The Defensive Efficiency Ratio (DER) measures the percentage of times balls in play are turned into outs by the team’s fielders, not including home runs. The Mets defense is 9th best in NL . with a .696 Also, the UZR (ultimate zone rating) measures the number of runs above or below average a fielder is in both range runs, outfield arm runs, double play runs and error runs combined. The Mets are 4th best in the NL with a 27.1
Besides Santana, their is no starting pitcher that has stood out in a positive way. The team is 10th in the National league in ERA that puts them in the bottom tier of the league with a .432 ERA.
All things considered, this is one of the more surprising seasons gone by with the Mets. With this downturn in production, you would think they were on pace to lose 100 games. The Mets were neither buyers or sellers at the deadline.
One thing is evident, this is an array of players who has not shown to give up despite all the injuries and players playing in roles they are not accustomed to. This is what team work is all about. Today, when Parnell takes the mound as the starting pitcher, and Murphy gets his timely hits, take a good luck. As, they are building something here known as team chemistry, and a little bit of luck.
