The New York Mets started off the week of play with a trip down to St. Louis for a 3 game meeting with the Cardinals that in the end was all Cardinals. Albert Pujols ripped the Mets going 6 for 11, with 7 RBI's, and 2 homers, as the Cardinals outscored the Mets 23 to 14 in a sweep of the Mets. All 3 Mets starters Perez, Maine, and Livian Hernandez could not get past 5 innings, and all 3 now sport ERA's of over 7. It was the 1st time this season the Mets took 3 straight loses in a series.
After Johan Santana the Mets are getting nothing of quality from their rotation, and it was Santana once again who had another quality outing to help the Mets stop a 4 game losing streak with a victory over the hapless Nationals. Thank god for the Nationals who came into CitiField and displayed some awful outfield play, as the Mets won 2 out 3, losing the 3rd game of the series 8-1 on Sunday when Oliver Perez could not complete the sweep of the Nationals, as Perez once again flopped miserally. It was Perez 4th outing this season and in all 4 starts Perez has been awful and now have the Mets wondering about Mr. Perez future as the discussions have now turned to Perez going to the bullpen or even to the minors until he can get himself back on track. For the week the Mets finished at 2 and 4, their 1st losing week of the season.
The Mets offense has been solid with a team batting average of 283 which ranks them 5th in the majors, but it's been the long ball that has been missing in action with the Mets hitting only 11 homeruns so far in the season which is 29th in the majors. Clearly CitiField has played a major part early on, with many shots dying in the outfield.
A concern for the Mets during the week continues to be Left fielder Daniel Murphy who at the moment is letting his defense get in his head, in the 1st 16 games Murphy has already lost 2 games for the Mets with his glove play. On Monday Murphy had a game vs. the Cardinals where he got picked off at 1st, then got thrown out at the plate, and then missplayed a ball in the outfield into a triple that led to the lost. Then on Sunday vs. the Nationals, Murphy missplayed another ball into a triple. After the game Jerry Manuel talked about his concerns with Murphy and his defense and said he is a bit worried about his leftfielder mindset in the outfield. Look for Fernando Tatis to get more playing time then he has been getting in left, resuming more of a platoon role which was more of the theme last season with Murphy and Tatis getting a even out role in left.
Another concern has to be David Wright who this week herd the boo birds for his failure at the plate. Wright has been striking out at an alarming rate leading the team in that catagory.
The Mets will open week off today with a 3 game series with the struggling 1st place Marlins who have lost 6 in a row. Then the Mets finish of the week with a 3 game meeting with their rivals the defending champions Philidelphia Phillies.
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