The Slanch Report

After seeing fellow Mets fan Shatraw proclaim the Mets having no chance for the rest of the reason, reader Youppi’s heart was broken so he sent along HIS 10 reasons why the Mets WILL succeed. Youppi is the most diehard Mets fan I know, so this has to be good! (ed. notes in ital)

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Sure, the Mets can’t do anything about the Wilpons, or Omar Minaya (well, they could fire him…), but they aren’t the ones actually playing the game anyways, it is up to the players themselves to make this turnaround happen. It is all going to come down to the team, and by looking at some past numbers and trends, we’ll see that those bats should liven up any day now. I submit my 10 reasons the Mets will finish 10+ games OVER .500 (and why they’ll be in the postseason!)

(Unless the reasons are the Phillies and Braves teams are both going to have epic collapses ala the Mets 2007, I don’t see it…)

1) Pre/Post All-Star break Splits: So the Mets are having a bad start to the year. Good thing that many of the linchpin players perform better in the second half! (AVG/OBP/SLG/OPS) for hitters

Carlos Beltran

Pre .272 .346 .474 .820

Post .291 .368 .524 .892

Beltran’s best months? June, July and August, so here we go…

David Wright

Pre .293 .375 .510 .885

Post .324 .399 .545 .944

When isn’t David good?

Carlos Delgado

Pre .270 .373 .525 .898

Post .291 .398 .570 .968

Yes, yes, he’s lost his bat speed. He can’t handle the inside pitch, and this is probably his last year with the Mets (Don’t count on it, I’m just waiting for Omar to sign him to a 5 year, 60 million deal around the All-Star break.) . It’s also probably his last chance to win it all, so here’s hoping his pre/post trends continue…

Aaron Heilman (ERA/WHIP/OAV)

Pre 4.80 1.29 .255

Post 3.45 1.29 .232

He’s already started righting the ship with recent solid outings, and as the summer heats up, so will his fastball, which he’ll hopefully trust more going forward…

(Zero chance he becomes dominant which is the one thing the Mets need him to be, regardless he has what, maybe 40 innings in him for the rest of the year, it simply won’t be enough)

Oliver Perez

Pre 4.72 1.47 .246

Post 4.13 1.41 .238

Neither set of numbers look terribly fantastic, but at least the second half looks better than the first.

(The definition of basket case)

Billy Wagner

Pre 2.59 1.02 .192

Post 2.12 1.00 .187

For all the crap Wagner has been getting, people were quick to throw out his dominant start to the year. Well, after a small hic-up, he’s back to his old ways, which continue pointing in the right direction after the All-Star Break. Oh, and Wagner vs. the Phillies for his career? 2.35ERA 1.00WHIP .190BAA

Continue reading ’10 Reasons the Mets WILL Finish 10 Games Over .500!’