SaberMets.com

« The Mets Suck | Main | More Anti-Mets Sentiment »

Pitching In

The Mets wrapped up their three-game series in Los Angeles last night, taking two-of-three from the first-place Dodgers. Mets pitchers continue to be effective, as Jae Seo picked up his first win of the season, and Stanton and Weathers gave up one hit apiece in finishing the game off.

The Mets pitching staff is tied for last in the National League in strikeouts, but are second in the league (to Philadelphia) in fewest walks allowed. What does this mean? Well, the Mets staff, particularly the starting rotation, is not built for power. They largely rely on generally-good command and good team defense (did I actually just say that?). Despite not putting up gaudy strikeout numbers, they have been doing an excellent job of keeping hitters off the bases.

As mentioned before, the Mets are second in the league in fewest walks allowed. They are fifth in WHIP at 1.326 and first in the league in homeruns allowed, having surrendered only 15 through 22 games this season. Atlanta and San Diego are tied for second with 19 homeruns each. The Mets are fourth in OBP against, first in SLG against, and second in OPS against, mere percentage points behind league-leading Florida. Mets pitchers have given up only 23 doubles this year, nine fewer than second-place Chicago and Los Angeles.

Given the above figures, it's not surprising that the Mets are first in the National League in Rob Neyer's Beane Count. Here is the description of this "metric" from ESPN.com:

Concocted by ESPN.com's Rob Neyer and named for Oakland A's General Manager Billy Beane, the Beane Count is derived by summing a team's ranks in home runs hit, walks drawn, home runs allowed, and walks allowed.

Can we reasonably expect the Mets to keep pitching this well all season? Who knows. They're doing what GM Jim Duquette said they would, which is rely on pitching and defense, and hope the offense can scratch out enough runs to win some ballgames.

Unfortunately, it looks like they'll be scratching out those runs without Jose Reyes for a little while longer. Reyes pulled himself out of a rehab game when he felt some pain in his leg while running out a grounder. It's not disastrous, but he definitely won't be back this weekend and is questionable for a return next week when the Mets get back to Shea.