Fernando Tatis has grounded into nine double plays so far this season in 147 plate appearances; two more than he had all of last year in over 300. Having spent the last two nights at Citi Field watching him hit clean up while repeatedly grounding the ball softly to the right side of the infield was frustrating. Three of those ground balls were for double plays. Just the type of production you’d like to see from your number four hitter.
I didn’t understand at the beginning of each game why Tatis was hitting clean up to begin with. He’s obviously in a horrid slump, and the the Cardinals have started a right handed pitcher for the last two games. Plus putting Tatis behind the red hot David Wright means Wright will get nothing to hit in his at bats. It’s shown as he has a few walks and a hit by pitch in the last two games. Why not let Wright hit behind Tatis? It would force the opposing pitcher to give Tatis some good pitches to hit, which he clearly isn’t seeing these days. I think it’s also time for Gary Sheffield to get a few starts in a row. The lack of a real threat behind David Wright is getting glaring, and may lead to him cooling off.
Another topic that came up yesterday that I forgot to address was the Mets horrific third base coach, Razor Shines. On Monday night, Shines sent two runners home that should have been out by ten feet except for a bad throw and what seemed to be a bad call by the home plate ump. It’s not the first time Shines has had someone thrown out at third or home this year. It’s happened a lot. I understand there are certain situations where you should take a chance by sending a runner home; with two outs in an inning, with your pitcher coming up next, but both times on Monday night did not fit those categories. Is there any way to get Razor put on the DL? Maybe HoJo could fill in for him temporarily? Unfortunately, having a really cool name does nothing for your third base coaching skills.
Last night’s game was awful, except for the fact that it was over quickly, even with the short rain delay. Possibly some of the loudest cheers of the night came for the grounds crew. They had some serious issues getting the tarp down, having it dragged all the way across the infield except for the most important part, home plate. The crew struggled for a few minutes as the rain poured down, finally deciding to pull it all the way back out to the outfield wall to do it over. The best part of the affair was that by the time they were done, it really wasn’t raining anymore.
Fernando Nieve tries to catch lightning in a bottle again tonight as he goes after his third win in as many tries. Nieve has been a pleasant surprise for the Mets in his fill in role for John Maine, but Maine is due back soon, so this may be Nieve’s last start for a while with the team.
Let’s Go Mets
