The current hole in David Wright’s swing could swallow entire solar systems.
“I really can’t put my finger on why I am swinging through so many pitches,” the Mets third baseman said. But though Wright ran a streak of strikeouts in official at-bats to mind boggling nine last night, no finger fairly could be pointed only at him for a maddening 3-2 loss to the Nationals.
“Hit the ball, David!” pleaded a fan in the fourth inning, just before Wright did that, popping up to cheers.
Sarcasm is unbecoming, but so are 14 strikeouts in Wright’s last seven games. In the sixth, he lined a 1-2 fastball by Nationals starter Luis Atilano to left, then promptly got doubled off first after Ike Davis’ misleadingly soft liner was run down near the cutout by Ryan Zimmerman.
Wright, who apparently slightly jammed a finger diving back into first, stayed in the game to get a second hit, an infield single in the eighth, when the Mets put two guys on, only to watch the ferociously-slumping Jeff Francoeur become the third of five Mets on the night to strike out with men in scoring position. So it went through the seventh with pinch hitter Garry Matthews Jr. and Jose Reyes, who joined Wright as the second Met tossed in two games for bouncing a helmet after a strikeout.
Let the record show that an irate manager Jerry Manuel, who also got tossed by home plate umpire Laz Diaz, did not make any contact, exactly like his players at the plate in key spots. After Angel Pagan got the Mets back to within one with a ninth-inning homer, and Alex Cora singled, Manuel’s club went down on Jason Bay’s 36th strikeout of the season, only six fewer than Wright’s total.
“It’s a team concern no doubt about it,” said Manuel after the Mets went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position. “We will do what we can to address the approach. . . . The approach at all times is simply have a good at-bat and when the time comes breathe and enjoy rather than tense up.”
Wright is hitting an enjoyable .436 when he makes contact. But 42 strikeouts by Wright and 36 strikeouts by Bay, a clean-up hitter with one home run, are not fun. Add in a ferociously struggling Francoeur, and it adds up to few sniffs amidst all these whiffs.
“Anytime you have middle-of-the-order hitters and have those swing and misses, there is some concern because the offense is difficult to flow with that situation.” Manuel said. “[Wright] was actually, about a week ago, on pace to maybe hit 35 [home runs] and 100 RBIs, but when those strikeouts are coming in bunches like that, then we have to start looking to see why.
“Is it as simple as mechanics, fundamentals? So we’re trying to figure that out. We haven’t quite got there yet, to be honest.”
In Wright’s case, the search is well into Year Two. Though he maintained his average (.307) in 2009, through plummeting home run (33 to 10) and RBI (124 to 72) totals, his strikeouts spiked from 118 to 140 in 91 fewer at bats. Popular presumptions that Citi Field has climbed into his third baseman’s head are not shared by Manuel, either.
“I don’t see that at all,” the manager said. “Mechanically or fundamentally, something’s not happening.”
That’s very hard to figure, suddenly in mid-career. Not so hard to ascertain, however, is the hole in Wright’s swing leaving a hole in the Mets’ lineup.
The stiff breeze at Citi Field these days isn’t coming just from atmospheric conditions.