April, come she will

[Frayed Knot]

This year's 15-11 April is the best one since 2010 (not that that start prevented a July/August collapse) or, prior to that, the ones from the good years of 2006 & '07

2013 = 10-15
2012 = 13-10
2011 = 11-16
2010 = 14-9
2009 = 9-12
2008 = 14-12
2007 = 15-9
2006 = 16-8

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Impressive considering the poor start, 6 games vs. ATL and a West Coast trip, and the fact that David Wright has turned into Muffy without the batting average, and Grandy into a lefthanded Jason Bay, and Travis d'Arnaud into Brian Schneider.

[TransMonk]

Agreed. I took more positives from April than negatives based on my initial expectations of the team.

Here's hoping this continues into May.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I remember in 2012 thinking that the Mets were playing over their heads.

I'm not feeling that so much this year. A while ago I said that this might turn out to be a 1984 kind of year for the Mets, and maybe it will.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Oh yes. Can't ever get too excited but take this start, along with the consensus arriving this spring that the organization's talent was now near the top of the list instead of near the bottom, and start of all the clubs in the minors, and it's all very positive.

Really the only big meaningful surprise IMO has been Niese whom I thought was hurt or hurting.

[Ceetar]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Oh yes. Can't ever get too excited but take this start, along with the consensus arriving this spring that the organization's talent was now near the top of the list instead of near the bottom, and start of all the clubs in the minors, and it's all very positive. Really the only big meaningful surprise IMO has been Niese whom I thought was hurt or hurting.

he's technically a zombie a this point but if it helps keep his arm attached..

[Edgy MD]

Really interesting to see whether Lagares picks up where he left off and keeps hitting, and/or how the Mets squeeze four starting outfielders into three spots.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Wally Backman did some math (and I double-checked it) and he said that in a week with seven games, one player can start six times and the other three can get five starts.

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, there's often a lot of drama when an outfielder returns from an injury, only to find his replacement has been hitting well enough to stay in the lineup, but there shoudn't be, as there is always enough plate appearances to go around. If you throw the first-baseman into the mix, five guys should be able to start 80% of the time at four positions.

[Frayed Knot]

The pitching in general and the starting in particular has been saving us while, for the most part, the Noffense continues.

3, 0, 3, 2, 1, 3, 7, 0, 1 runs allowed over the last nine games (2 w/extra innings).
That's a 2.09 ERA even weighed down by the seven run game that was mostly the result of Mejia's blow up inning.
Even the pen, missing a closer and after a train wreck of a first week or so, has been good lately.

[Edgy MD]

The funny thing is that the starting pitching has been consistently on, but nobody generally dominating, leaving Eric Young leading the team in WAR? Wutzdat?

[Frayed Knot]

Yeah, I saw the EYJ = WAR leader thing the other day ... but he's still the guy I'd sit down in favor of Lagares


Speaking of Lagares, what's the corresponding move? --- I think it's probably Nieuwenhuis getting outed (so to speak) which would suck for him being from the Denver area and all.

[Ceetar]

Edgy MD wrote: The funny thing is that the starting pitching has been consistently on, but nobody generally dominating, leaving Eric Young leading the team in WAR? Wutzdat?

That is extremely small sample defensive metrics. And I saw someone postulate that he's probably getting credit in that measurement for outfielders dropping pop-ups and the large among of reaching on error he's done.

but by Fangraphs WAR he's not ahead of Wheeler, or Niese, or Lagares, or Murphy, or Recker.

He has a lower OPS than Tejada.

[Edgy MD]

He also scores well in the "Just Showing Up" column.

[seawolf17]

I believe every stolen base gives you .25 WAR, because WAR is a pretty old-school stat.

[Vic Sage]

...the ones from the good years of 2006 & '07

well, good in the sense that we won more than we lost anyway, but not so much how they ended, particularly 07.

[ashie62]

Very nice April considering Mets hit .209 as a team...

[Frayed Knot]

No said this was going to be easy.
Including the games of May 1st here, the entire NL East is now at or above .500 and the overall division record (+14) is tops in MLB


AL East = collectively 3 games below .500
AL Cent = -3
AL West = -1

NL East = +14
NL Cent = -6
NL West = -1

Translation: NL East are beating up on each other and then turning around and beating up everyone else.
And, yes, if you do the math you can see that the NL has an early lead in inter-league play (24-17). The AL has had the better of the play each season since 2004

[TransMonk]

I want April back...