A little more than two weeks into the season and the Mets are 6-9 and were just swept by the St Louis Cardinals, and there is serious talk about firing coaches and demoting pitchers to the minor leagues.
The Mets are now starting a home stand against the Nationals and Marlins, it is crucial that the Mets get their legs under them soon or else there will be major consequences.
Jerry Manuel is on a short leash, no question, but I for one am not positive firing the coaches and sending pitchers down to the minors will solve the team's problems.
It is way too early to panic but Manuel is fed up with the ERA's of the starting pitchers, they are averaging about nine runs given up a game.
The Mets are struggling with RISP, no question, but if the pitchers are giving up so many runs, it doesn't matter how many runs they score. Yesterday the Mets scored 8 runs on 13 hits, you would think that would be a win in the works but it was not enough.
Howard Johnson is an incredible hitting coach, no doubt about that, and the starters are basically all .300 hitters right now but they are not getting the timely hits necessary to win games.
Johnson may be shown the door, even though it would be unfair, unless the offensive production picks up, but Dan Warthen, the pitching coach, is definitely on far shakier ground because no matter how many runs the offense scores, it is seldom enough to make up for the starting pitchers giving up so many runs.
Oliver Perez and/or Mike Pelfrey are in danger of being sent to the bullpen or even demoted to the Minor Leagues where they would most likely need to clear waivers.
The batting lineup changed yesterday and will continue to change until the timely runs occur, which may be the most difficult task of all because the hitters are getting on base but lack of timely hitting is drawing fire up and down the lineup.
Jose Reyes and David Wright will need to use their speed on the bases to generate runs in CitiField which is a pitchers and gap friendly park and this has to be utilized in order for the Mets to turn things around.
Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado also may need to make adjustments to their game to compensate for their physical limitations due to age and wear and tear, even though they are both hitting fairly well right now.
Luis Castillo and Daniel Murphy are doing fairly well in the offensive categories but struggling defensively, this will come with playing time.
It should be a very interesting week starting tonight, as fans we need to support our players and not boo them in the crowd, that will not help anything.
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