June Struggles

The Mets are 2-9 in June. The most surprising aspect of the current run of bad baseball is that the offense and the bullpen have been the problem. While some of the drop off in offense has been due to injuries and a lack of a consistent lineup, there has still been a lack of timely hitting. The Mets are struggling to convert on scoring opportunities and that should scare you. That is what winning in the playoffs is all about.

And now the bullpen is springing leaks. Wagner blows a save and Joe Smith and Feliciano show they are not perfect. Luckily baseball is a long season and the Mets have the infrastructure to fix things with Omar, Willie, and Peterson.

So what do the Mets need?

1. A healthy Alou. Having him in the lineup caused some serious matchup headaches. With him you can go with a left-righty rotation in the lineup with a nice mixture of speed and power. A lineup with Alou-Green-Valentin batting 6, 7, 8 is deep and balanced.
2. A healthy Pedro. The Mets need a headhunter at the top of the rotation. Someone who gives you a mean streak. The Mets seem to lack that right now. They have a group of true professionals, but they are lacking a little attitude that all championship teams have.
3. But the main thing the Mets need right now is to get everyone going in the same direction. Reyes and Beltran were hot, but Wright and Delgado were struggling. Now we have a reversal of that. The scary thing for the rest of the national league is that the Mets lineup has not played to their potential yet.

Let's hope they bring their 'A' game this weekend against the suddenly hot Yankess.