PHILADELPHIA — After having one of the hottest offenses in baseball in August, it appears as though the bats have cooled considerably. However, the Mets don’t exactly see it that way. What they see is five dominant pitching performances they’ve been on the receiving end of, some questionable calls around the zone and, in the last two losses, early exits by their own pitchers that haven’t made it easy for their own lineup to produce.
As Juan Soto said, hitters are looking for mistakes. If the pitchers don’t make them, it’s tough to hit them.
“That’s definitely been the case in the series,” hitting coach Jeremy Barnes told the Daily News on Thursday at Citizens Bank Park. “Yeah, they’ve executed extremely well, and hats off to them. We’re looking into different areas. We understand what they’re trying to do, but it’s a fine line.”
The fine line is not chasing pitches out of the zone while taking the right ones. It’s been difficult for the Mets over the last two weeks, and they’ve been looking at more called strikes in that span than they typically do.
“Sometimes we’re guessing there, but we’ve got to go back to what may make us who we are offensively and continue to trust those guys,” said manager Carlos Mendoza. “I wouldn’t say that past two weeks, definitely the past few days, for sure.”
It’s tough to be able to diagnose the offense when they’ve faced such elite pitching, but the Mets have been outscored 30-11 over their last five games, losing two straight series after taking one from the AL-best Detroit Tigers. The team has been streaky all season, but the issues driving in runners in scoring position finally seemed to get solved last month, making the early September play all the more frustrating.
They haven’t been chasing as many pitches outside the zone, and you can’t blame luck with a .304 BaBIP over the last two weeks. No one is making any excuses, and they’re still trying to find ways to produce, but at this point in time, it’s difficult.
“You don’t want to chase off the plate in the areas they want you to chase off the plate on because there’s nothing good that happens in that situation,” Barnes said. “But if they locate, like, the ball is halfway on the line and halfway off the line, you’ve got to bet the odds are not going to do that on a regular basis. They are, and then it’s a tough night no matter what when they’re executing like that. It’s just a long night.
“I think it just comes down to like, we’ve seen some guys that have really executed.”
The last two nights, the Mets have managed to produce some runs in garbage time, but not enough to make up for the large deficits. They have yet to win a game when trailing after eight innings, a subject that has garnered plenty of attention this week already. However, the Mets hope that even those garbage-time runs can give them some momentum.
At the moment the pitchers are throwing their best stuff at the Mets, and succeeding.
“I think pitchers have made pitches,” Barnes said. “They’ve lived directly on the edge, or, like, it’s been a little off. We haven’t really changed anything about what we’re doing, or talked about needing to be more passive. I just think, if you look at it, this is probably a blip in time of where they’ve executed maybe a little bit better than they have in the past.”
NEVER FORGET
The Mets continued their tradition of wearing caps from the various first responder agencies throughout the city to commemorate those lost on September 11, 2001.
“I feel like I’m a New Yorker now after a lot of years in New York now, and when we get to this day, you can just feel it,” Mendoza said. “For us, that we get the opportunity to represent the city and represent the organization, like it means a lot to put on the uniform and to put on this hat.”
SENGA’S NEXT START
Right-hander Kodai Senga will make his first Triple-A start Friday. He’s thrown two bullpens since his minor league demotion and while the reports have been good, the Mets need to see how he handles hitters.
“A lot of times the haters will tell you,” Mendoza said. “And he’ll tell you, we’ll get feedback from him, we’ll watch videos and things like that, and we’ll get the report. But he feels good, he feels like he’s in a good spot and made some adjustments with his mechanics. He’s got to go out there now, and we’ve got to see it.”
