A Question of Balance

Global warming, a giant oil slick and nobody seems to care while we pick on the banks for a while. Meanwhile, the seas go to hell. But set against all that is the Mets winning 7 in a row, and John Maine striking out nine Dodgers while going into the seventh inning. The Mets are in first place after stinking it up for the first dozen games.

The combined runs total for and against during the win stretch is 35-13. Averaged over 7 games, the Mets won each game by a score of 5-2. Not too shabby.

But it’s all very curious. Their luck went from horrible to undeniably terrific, or indescribably delicious. The Cubs, Braves and Dodgers looked awful. Or was that just the Mets making those teams look so bad?

All I know is that, all things considered, things have turned out remarkably well. The promotion of Ike Davis, batting Reyes third, keeping crazy Ollie and Maine in the rotation, the pickup of Jason Bay and Barajas, and the pickup of Jeff Francoeur before that, all those things have worked out. And that’s not to mention the relievers.

You may have read here that, from spring training on, the relievers looked much better than Manuel was making them out to be. Down in Florida, I thought they all looked pretty good. Yeah, it was the spring, but I was still very hopeful. If anything, I was very concerned at that time about the starters.

But the targets of my biggest concern, Maine especially but Oliver Perez too, have managed to just hang in, like that poster with the little kitten hangin’ on for dear life. And Jonathon Niese, for whom I had been optimistic, has been even better than I’d expected, as has Mike Pelfrey. Santana is still Santana, if perhaps just a kinder, gentler Santana.

I had been concerned about the lineup too, of course, what with the likes of Mike Jacobs batting cleanup. I didn’t have much hope for Gary Matthews (and still don’t) and Rod Barajas. It was a lineup even I could pitch around…arguably. But the call-up of Ike Davis meant we wouldn’t be seeing Mike Jacobs around any longer. It meant, too, we’d see less of Fernando Tatis. Both these players seemed to suck energy from the lineup, and for that matter, from the entire team.

It’s amazing what a little tweaking can do. Ike Davis infused the team with as much energy as had formerly been drained by Jacobs and Tatis. Reyes looks as if he enjoys playing in the 3-hole. Bay looks as if he likes batting just behind him. One could say exactly the same for Wright following Bay and Davis following Wright. Francoeur may be a little farther down than I or he would like but he’s not a complainer. He’s been as instrumental as anyone in their team success, even when he hasn’t been hitting. As for Barajas, he either hits it into the seats or flies out, it seems, but at least he’s doing it from the 8-hole.

But it’s mostly been about pitching, and who’s to say Barajas and Blanco, who spells Barajas, haven’t been keys to the pitching success. I don’t see many shake-offs and, more importantly, I don’t see many stupid calls. Opposing runners respect both catchers’ arms too, as Barajas reminded me just yesterday by throwing behind the runner at first to keep him closer to the bag.

As bad as things looked a couple of weeks ago, that’s as good as things seem now. Even Citi Field, which seemed to just add to Mets woes then, now seems to embrace those frequent line drives hit by Bay, Wright and Francoeur. And, as exciting as those dingers can be, there’s nothing quite like a triple in the gap, especially with runners on, and Citi Field has nothing but gaps, and huge ones too.

Going to Philly just at this time, though, wouldn’t be my choice. Homers come easy in Philly, and the Phils have just the guys to hit them. Howard, Utley, Werth, Rollins, Ibanez, on and on, the Phils just scare the hell out of me. All those fly balls a pitcher such as Maine induces at Citi Field become homers in that bandbox that is Citizens Bank Park.

But it’ll be Niese against Kyle Kendrick in the opener Friday night, which, all things considered, should be an edge for Niese, who, besides being a lefty, has good control and keeps the ball down in the zone. Pelfrey goes next against Halladay, and it would be impossible to wax poetic about that matchup. Santana will close it out though, and, against anyone, I like Santana.

Those pitching matchups make the opener of the Series a pivotal one as far as winning another series is concerned. I’m hoping Niese can go deep into the game too, as I’m a little concerned about the number of innings some of these relievers have pitched. Especially with Igarashi’s hamstring putting him out for the next couple of weeks, it seems as if Nieve, Feliciano and Takahachi could get more work than could be considered optimal.

Balance is now what the Mets exhibit now though, and balance is hard to beat in baseball over the long run. The Mets are getting output from the entire lineup, and both starters and relievers are pitching well. That combination will be hard to beat on any field, in any venue, and, theoretically, against any team, even the Phillies.

The only starter performing well for the Phils is Halladay. Hamels, Kendrick and Moyer have been decidedly mediocre. Former Met Nelson Figueroa, listed as their fifth starter, has a better ERA at this point than any of the other starters, excepting Halladay of course.

Their closer is Madsen while Lidge is out, making them thinner in relief overall. Rollins is out, Juan Castro is in. All in all, the Mets on paper are better than this Phillies team, at least right now.