NOT WRIGHT: A frustrated David Wright leaves the dugout after the Mets’ 8-4, 10-inning loss to the Marlins yesterday at Citi Field. (
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On Saturday, the Mets’ failure in the clutch cost them a game.
Yesterday, they didn’t even have opportunities to falter with runners in scoring position in the latter statges of a dismal 8-4, 10-inning loss to the Marlins at Citi Field.
Such is the state of the inconsistent lineup, which followed up a 10-run explosion against the Nationals with back-to-back futile performances against the woebegone Marlins and their inexperienced pitching staff.
After going 0-for-19 with runners in scoring position in Saturday’s 20-inning marathon, the Mets actually got off to a good start at the plate yesterday, as they took a 4-1 lead, thanks to Daniel Murphy’s second-inning home run, followed by David Wright’s two-run double and Murphy’s run-scoring groundout in the third.
After that, the Mets’ offense vanished. They produced two baserunners over the final six innings, making pedestrian Marlins starter Tom Koehler look like an all-star. Over 30 innings the last two days, the Mets managed five runs — against a team with the 10th-worst ERA in the National League.
“When you’re in the position we’re in offensively, instead of going up there and taking what the pitcher gives you and what the defense gives you, and taking that lousy single and driving in a run, we’re trying to hit three-run home runs,” Wright said. “We’re trying to do too much.”
Jon Niese, yesterday’s starting pitcher, entered with the fourth-best batting average of the nine Mets in the lineup. With Lucas Duda getting a day off, the lineup was even more threadbare than normal.
Unfortunately for the Mets, Wednesday’s breakout performance against the Nationals was an anomaly. Since their four-game sweep of the Yankees, they have scored 15 runs in six games aside from the one big outburst. They are 11th in the National League with 231 runs scored, have an NL-worst team batting average of .226 and a .294 on-base percentage, third-worst in the league.
Change is coming, as the Mets demoted Ike Davis and Mike Baxter after the defeat, but they were far from the only problems bedeviling the offense.
“We don’t exactly have a ton of team power offensively,” Wright said. “We don’t have a lot of team speed, so we’ve got to be able to run the bases correctly, we have to be able to go up there … where we’re not necessarily being over-aggressive, but not trying to do too much up there.
“We click keeping the line moving — walk, base hit, base hit, walk, things like that. Getting the pitcher in trouble and making him feel the pressure, rather than vice versa.”
Manager Terry Collins criticized the at-bats the Mets are taking, the amount of bad pitches being swung at and too many hitters looking for hanging breaking balls instead of attacking early in the count.
“We continue to get beat with fastballs, that’s an issue,” Collins said.
One of many with the Mets’ malfunctioning lineup.