So why the second half swoons? What has befallen this Mets team that’s kept them from playing as good baseball as they played the first half? \u00a0Why does this seem to be a theme, year to year?<\/p>\n
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I wrote about the Mets margin of error<\/a> a month ago, and they haven’t played much better since. \u00a0I think this plays in to the second half; when it’s time to make adjustments and tweaks for the second half, the Mets haven’t done so. \u00a0Part of this is lack of depth for sure, the Mets in recent years haven’t had enough players to cover injuries, sometimes guys having strong starts don’t adjust when the league starts adjusting to what they’re doing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Mets were playing the line between winning and losing so close that a couple of adjustments, injuries, or slumps ended up ruining their season. \u00a0Such as when David Wright<\/a><\/strong> stopped hitting for two, or when Dillon Gee<\/a><\/strong> went down. \u00a0I think Gee’s blood clot in the shoulder may have been more demoralizing than people think. \u00a0It’s one thing when a teammates hurts himself giving it his all on the field, but to come up with a sudden medical malady? \u00a0I could see how that could jar you out of the competitive nature of a game when life interjects. \u00a0Nieuwenhuis stopped hitting, Duda struggled and even Davis didn’t ride out the hot streak long enough to make up for his bad April and May.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Mets played very well in June, but I might make the case that they underperformed. \u00a0They had one of the best pitching staffs in June, with R.A. Dickey<\/a><\/strong> doing historic things, and managed to lose a couple of games they probably should’ve won. \u00a0The bullpen was not horrible in June either. \u00a0 Perhaps if they’d gone into the All-Star Break a couple of games better they would’ve come out of it with a different attitude and focus and maybe would’ve fared differently. \u00a0Maybe not.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It seems clear to me that the good teams made adjustments and the Mets either didn’t have the talent, ability, or preparation to make counter adjustments. \u00a0They got hit with good teams coming out of the break and ended up getting knocked out. \u00a0 Some of it’s injury and depth. \u00a0 Kirk Nieuwenhuis<\/a><\/strong> is a good example of this. \u00a0Perhaps if Andres Torres<\/a><\/strong> has stayed healthy, Kirk would’ve come up in July instead and he’d have added an offensive jolt at that time instead of tailing off. \u00a0The Mets had no other outfielders to call up as Jason Bay<\/a><\/strong>, Nieuwenhuis, and Lucas Duda<\/a><\/strong> struggled. \u00a0They had no counter-attack. \u00a0They had options in the bullpen, but those options ended up being almost as ineffective as the guys they replaced.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Mets had some talent, but it turned out that more of the flaws caught up with them than talent shining through. \u00a0With just one or two players having a little big more impact, it feels like the Mets might have weathered the storm. \u00a0Having the Kirk Nieuwenhuis of April and May over the Jason Bay of July and August almost seems like it might have been the difference between the 77 win Mets and the 87 win Mets. \u00a0 This is definitely over-simplifying it, but perhaps the Mets are only a couple of adjustments away from being\u00a0consistently\u00a0good. \u00a0It’s certainly going to be an interesting offseason to see what adjustments the Mets end up making. \u00a0There’s a lot of baseball still to be watched this season, and some of these guys may be playing for a job next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" So why the second half swoons? What has befallen this Mets team that’s kept them from playing as good baseball as they played the first half? \u00a0Why does this seem to be a theme, year to year? I wrote about the Mets margin of error a month ago, and they haven’t played much better … <\/p>\n