Just Some Thoughts

Watching lasts nights Mets/Phillies game proved there are more issues on the rise, unless this team can start to get it together. On a night where the Mets saw twenty-two baserunners stranded, they only put up four runs. That was just enough runs to straddle Robles his first loss of the young season. Only a month in but the Mets are showing signs of more of the same as last year: stranding runners in scoring position, not hitting situationally. Getting a lead and thinking, the games over, we got this. Or vis versa, thinking, damn they scored, this game is over. I understand that everyone on this team can jack it over the fence and that’s awesome, it’ll make pitchers pitch to someone, but sometimes just a single or even just hitting a fly ball to the outfield would work. Call me old school, but manufacturing a run seems to have fallen out of sight along with the stolen bases. Remember Roger Cedeno? Sixty-six stolen bases in one season seems like the Mets would be lucky if they accumulated 66 swiped bags as a team nowadays. But manufacturing a run doesn’t need you to be a runner, you don’t need to have Jarrod Dyson speed, but maybe base running smarts is needed? Looking at your outfielders and going first to third on a bloop, taking second base when a catcher drops to his knees, bunting the runner over as a hitter, hitting a fly ball with a runner on third and less then two outs instead of striking out twice and then finally hitting that coveted fly ball. This team will live and die by the long ball. It’s nice when it’s working but when you're leaving twenty-two runners on base and not putting away your opponent to only lose the game in extra frames is not okay. This team has very great ability offensively, more so with Conforto in the three hole, but they will need to do the little things like moving a runner over and getting the runner on third home. Ninety feet can be the difference between a win and a loss. Another thing is how is Terry Collins using the bullpen, it’s confusing. Bring in Robles for the seventh inning, but then bring him in to close out a blowout, followed by bringing him in a tied ball game in extra innings. Then he brings in Addison Reed in the seventh which made a little more sense because it was against the middle of the lineup. Bullpen personnel like to know their roles and changing them could ensue some issues down the road. This pen looks better than it did last year with Henderson and Bastardo back there to help out. 

What do you think? Do you think bullpen roles are important as well?

Lets go Mets!!!