Who could ever forget it, and now at the same time, it looks like they could fall again. With the Phillies who have won 4 straight on the Mets heels, they have trimmed the Mets lead right down to half of a game. This series going on right now could decide who becomes the leader of the NL East after this series.
I will break down their offense first. With Beltran hitting only .270 this year, and Castillo hitting .259, Delgado hitting .260, and Schneider hitting .254, you think someone has to step up. You may argue saying that you are forgetting Reyes and Wright but Wright is only hitting .294 and Reyes is struggling to hit over 300 with a .303 average. Their offense is supposed to be their strong point-not a weak point. Their pitching is in even more trouble now because John Maine was placed on the 15 Day DL. Their rotation is as followed: Santana, Perez, Pelfrey, and Martinez. Sounds pretty good right? When you look at the stats you think WRONG! Even though Santana is doing great, Oliver Perez, their number 2 pitcher has a 4.00 ERA, and Martinez, who is just so happens to kick off the Phillies, Mets series has a 4.97 ERA. Now you may think that they have only one hope left which is their bullpen, which has Heilman, Ayala, Sanchez, Feliciano, Schoewenies, Smith, and Stokes is horrible.
Heilman's ERA is 5.37, Ayala has a 5.40 ERA, Sanchez has a 4.06 ERA, the 4.03 ERA of Feliciano isnt any better, Joe Smith has a 4.06 ERA, Stokes at 3.86 ERA is second best with the number 1 reliever on the team....Scott Schoenweiss! His good ERA of 2.94 is the only thing the Mets have to be proud of. Of course you have a huge DL with Wise, Hernandez, Armas, Anderson, Alou, Nixon, Wagner, and Maine all on the DL. That isnt any suprise because all of them are over 35 atleast. You may think if they all come back they would be way better than the Phills. Wrong again. Nixon is hitting .171, Orlando Hernandez hasnt pitched yet this year, Matt Wise has a 6.43 ERA this year, Marlon Anderson is hitting .222, and John Maine has a 4.13 ERA. It looks like at the end of the tunnel for the Mets, their is no light.
