Between injuries and the flu, the Mets roster is getting thinner than Nicole Richie. They have second string players playing at almost every position, and a few third stringers filling in at very critical defensive spots, with Wilson Valdez at short stop and Jeremy Reed in center field. I know that both these players will do an adequate job defensively, but they will not the holes of the regular players completely, especially in the line up.
Without Carlos Beltran, the Mets do not have a legitimate “middle of the line up” threat. Daniel Murphy could be a solid #3 hitter, but no one will ever compare him to Beltran. Fernando Tatis seems to ground into double plays every time he gets up with a man on. David Wright’s slump might be worst than the one at the beginning of the season. It seems like he hasn’t had an at bat where he’s not over matched in almost a week’s worth of games. I’m not sure how it happened so suddenly, but the timing is terrible.
Carlos Beltran has been a late scratch every day since he left the game early last Saturday. John Maine seems to have whatever Beltran has, struggling through his bullpen session yesterday with bad stomach pains. Maine says he plans to make his scheduled start on Friday. I was at last Sunday’s game when he was pitching with the flu, and it was possibly the best start he’s made in a long time, even though it was a short one, so maybe pitching with some leftover symptoms might be a good thing.
All that said,
The Mets line up was unable to score enough runs to overcome a somewhat shaky effort by Johan Santana last night, only plating one against Zach Duke and the Pirates bullpen. The one run cost them their back up short stop for what may be an extended period of time, as he dislocated his pinky when sliding/falling at home plate. It seems like the Mets are dropping like flies, literally losing someone in every game. It’s unbelievable to watch.
If the Mets don’t get some of their key components back soon, they are going to free fall in the standings. It will be impossible to win against the good competition that’s coming down the road after Pittsburgh and Washington. It’s clearly not even easy to win against the lower tier teams. Who am I kidding? With this line up coming out every night, the Mets are a lower tier team. Let’s hope it doesn’t last so long.
Disgruntled Level Rising
