A Simple Fix for Jason Bay?

Like many of you, I'vebeen watching Jason Bay very closely this season, and there seems to be one very obvious thing wrong with his approach:

He is standing too far off the plate.

His timing is off, and he is positively lunging for balls that are only a few inches outside.  His plate coverage is terrible.

Here are two photos of him from his time with the Red Sox. 

I ask you this--does he look closer to the plate in these photos than he does now?  I would say yes.

The New Mets: Young and Hungry

Baseball is a young man's game.

Sure, you can win with an older team, but it doesn't last, and study after study has shown that the peak years for a ballplayer are between ages 25-31.

The Mets have a young core that could carry this team to big success for the next 5 years, and I would love to see them continue with this model vice previous attempts at finding lightning in a bottle with aging vets.

The current starting team is as follows:

• C-Rod Barajas, age 34
• 1B-Ike Davis, age 23
• 2B-Ruben Tejada, age 20
• 3B-David Wright, age 27
• SS-Jose Reyes, age 26
• LF-Jason Bay, age 31
• CF-Angel Pagan, age 28
• RF-Jeff Francoeur, age 26

That is an average age of 26.9.

When we look at the pitching the story gets even better.

Pelfrey  is 26, Niese is 23, Mejia is 20, Johan is only 31, and Frankie Rodriguez is 28.

While the Mets may not make the playoffs this year, their is a fantastic young core of players to work with.  We're seeing the results in the field, and the youthful energy is something that will carry this team through the dog days of summer.

Baseball, a young man's game, is on display in Queens, and it sure is fun to watch.

Good Morning Mets Fans!

How sweep it is!

After taking the first two games in relatively easy fashion, the Mets used the hot bat of Jeff Francoeur, and the positive energy of skipper Jerry Manuel, to come back from a 5-0 deficit and complete the sweep of their Florida rivals.

The Mets fell behind on another sub-par outing by Takahashi, who gave up two long balls yesterday and  did not look sharp, especially after the first time through the order.  Not willing to quit, the Mets chipped away and benefited by Fredi Gonzales strange deicion to pull Ricky Nolasco after only 82 pitches.

That move ignited the Mets.

Jeff Francoeur is hot---boiling hot--at the plate, and he proved his mettle again yesterday with a tying, three-run homer in the seventh inning.  It was the big blow that keyed two rallies that put the Mets on top and upped their home winning streak to 8 games.

"I know this is a big yard but I knew I got that one," said Francoeur, who is batting .500 (18 for 36) during his 10-game hitting streak. "I was sure nothing was going to stop it."

Prior to the Francoeur bomb, Angel Pagan demonstrated why he has become one of the most valuable men in the lineup.  Pagan smoked a two-run single in the sixth and scored the go-ahead run when Ike Davis grounded into a double play in the eighth.

"Right now our offense is a lot better than three or four weeks ago," Pagan said. "We can do more things and I think this comeback helps us. ... We just kept fighting."

David Wright chipped in with 3 hits and continues to mash.  His strikeouts are down, and he is driving the ball with authority.

The Mets are now 18-4 in their last 22 games at Citi Field. They have the best home record in baseball, including 22 home wins.

"This was one of those games that tests your character," catcher Rod Barajas said. "That tells you what you're all about. That was an awesome win being down 5-0 early."

The Mets also received a big boost from their skipper.  I've been tough on Jerry all year, but he definitely out-managed his counterpart yesterday. Manuel kept the team positive, and he also put Angel Pagan in motion on a key full-count pitch to Bay, with great results as Bay stroked a single that sent Pagan to third, where he ultimately scored the key run.

"We've been taking chances and our baserunners are making good reads," Manuel said. "We felt like if it's a breaking ball we might get a stolen base. The only thing you worry about is hitting a line drive at somebody, but with people moving around it's a lot harder to hit a line drive at someone. If you do, you just tip your cap."

The bullpen, for the most part, did their job.  Igarashi had a rough time of it, but Elmer Dessens, Pedro Feliciano and Frankie Rodriguez were all up for the task.

Feliciano got the win, to go 2-2 on the year, and Frankie picked up his 12th save of the year.

The Mets are off today and face the Padres at home tomorrow.  We all get a chance to breathe and enjoy our coffee!

Scoreboard
Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Florida (28-30)	0	0	0	1	0	4	1	0	0	6	10	0
N.Y. Mets (30-27) «	0	0	0	0	0	3	3	1	x	7	12	2

Player of the Game

New York
J. Francoeur	AB	4
	R	1
	H	2
	HR	1
	RBI	3

 Related articles

• Post Game: Mets 7 Marlins 6 (metsblog.com)
• Mets 7, Marlins 6: Mets Win With a Rare Display of Power (nytimes.com)

Good Morning Mets Fans!

Hey, the kids are alright after all.

Jonathon Niese was absolutely dominant yesterday in leading ythe Mets to their 9th win in the last 13 games.  In another good sign, David Wright went yard, and Ike Davis smoked 4 hits.

When it was all said and done, the Mets had a 6-1 win over the rival Marlins, and the energy level of the team appears to be peaking.  It was the Mets seventh straight home victory.

David Wright has 3 RBIs on the day and looked extremely comfortable at the plate.  His homerun was an absolute bomb and sent the Citi Field faithful into a frenzy.   Jeff Francoeur, who has really hit the ball well of late, chipped in with an RBI single and newcomer Ruben Tejada, who looks like a real talent, stroked a run-scoring double.

The real story of the day was Jonathan Niese.  He had pinpoint control, changed speeds, and was locked in on every batter.  He worked quickly and looked like he could have easily completed the game if not for the fact that he was coming back from injury.  Fox cut to a camera angle of Niese and Jerry Manuel in the dugout after Jerry let Niese know he was done for the day, and you could see Niese plead for one more inning...the kid is a gamer.

The struggling bullpen came on and finished it off in fine fashion.  Jenrry Mejia and Fernando Nieve each tossed a scoreless frame, and Mejia had great life on his pitches.

The Mets are the best home team in baseball.

"If you watch us play at home, I expect us to win the division," Francoeur said. "We've accepted we're going to play to our advantage with this field."

David Wright now has 10 HRs on the year, and if not for the high K rate, we'd be talking about his solid numbers.  He is back on a hot streak and pulling the ball with authority.

"This really is a park that you have to be able to hit the ball down the lines," Wright said. "I don't really consider myself that good of a pull hitter. I like to try to stay up the middle. It felt good to be able to pull the ball and then the next at-bat be able to stay on the ball and go up the middle. So hopefully that's a good sign."

Ike Davis was actually using Jeff Francoeur's bat in the game, and the results were spectacular.

"I just felt good today swinging the bat," Davis said. "Been working on some things, just slowing it down a little bit. Happened to find the barrel a couple times. It feels good to find some grass out there." 

Enjoy your coffee!

Scoreboard
Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Florida (28-29)	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	7	0
N.Y. Mets (29-27) «	0	2	3	0	1	0	0	0	x	6	10	0

Players of the Game

New York I. Davis AB 4 R 3 H 4 HR 0 RBI 1

New York J. Niese IP 7.0 H 6 ER 1 BB 1 K 6

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Why You Don't Bunt With a Man on Second and No Outs

A man on second and no outs has a greater chance of scoring than a man on third with 1 out.

Thanks to our friends at Inside the Book, we can see the math behind the decision, and in Jerry Manuel's case, he failed when he had GMJ bunt Luis Castillo over in the 9th.

The situation was man on second, no outs, and GMJ had worked himself into a hitter's count.  In that situation the run expectancy, per the chart, is 1.228.  That's right, the Mets should have expected to not only score that run, but they had a near 23% chance of tacking on another one.  The correct call was to remove the bunt sign (which never should have been given in the first place).

When Jerry bunted Castillo over, he lowered the run expectancy to 0.980.

I'll also add that with the players that were due up, there are actually more reasons not to bunt.  This was not your 7-8-9 hitters, but 3-4-5, the heart of the order.

David Wright did fail, that is a given, but the manager failed as well.

Jerry wants his team to win with 26 outs.

Here are the runs expected based on men-on-base and the number of outs in the inning:

Situation	No Outs	One Out	Two Out
Empty	0.551	0.295	0.111
1st	0.972	0.576	0.252
2nd	1.228	0.746	0.337
3rd	1.424	0.980	0.394
1st/2nd	1.649	1.027	0.478
1st/3rd	1.845	1.261	0.535
2nd/3rd	2.101	1.431	0.620
Loaded	2.522	1.717	0.761

Fish Sweep Mets; Niese Injured

Today brought the end to a humiliating 4-game series against the Marlins in which the Mets got swept by losing the final 10-8.

It also may have struck the beginning of the death knell for manager Jerry Manuel.

Today's game perfectly encapsulated the Mets frustrations this year and last--an injury, bad defense, up and down hitting, and very spotty relief.

Jonathan Niese, who has pitched well in his rookie campaign left the game with an injured hamstring.

Niese made it to the third inning when he injured his right proximal hamstring while fielding a bunt by Gaby Sanchez.  In a move that horrified Mets fans everywhere, Niese grabbed the back of his right leg and looked visibly uncomfortable. He gamely tried to pitch on, but after one toss to Hanley Ramirez, he was forced out of the game and replaced by Hisanori Takahashi.

The timing of the injury couldn't be any worse given that Oliver Perez was demoted to the bullpen yesterday, and John Maine was extremely ineffective Saturday.

Niese was only charged with one earned run thanks to a woeful defense.  David Wright had a very poor game at third and the Mets quickly fell behind 7-0.

To the Mets credit, they came back to within one run on some timely hitting by, of all people, Gary Mathews Jr, but the rally quickly ended thanks to Jerry Manuel's inexplicable move of pinch-hitting for cleanup hitter Chris Carter.

Jeff Francoeur, who sat out the start of the game because of a deep, deep slump, came on to pinch-hit for Carter and was dispatched in 2 pitches.

Speaking of Carter, "The Animal" had an RBI for the Mets, who also received timely RBI hits from Alex Cora and David Wright.  There is absolutely no reason why Francoeur replaced Carter other than Jerry's belief that a righty-lefty matchup is always the right call to make.  The bottom line is this--Francoeur needed at least a full day off, if not more, and Carter was penciled in at cleanup.  What kind of signal do you send to him when you PH for him with the game on the line.

It was piss-poor managing.

Fernando Nieve came on after the Mets rally and promptly gave up three runs to put the game out of reach at 10-7.  The Mets added one more run to make it 10-8, again on a GMJ hit, but the game ended after that.

It was a disgusting 4 days of baseball for the Mets, and they failed in every way a team can fail.

Fittingly, David Wright came up with a chance to tie the game in the 9th and he struck out.

It's time for Jerry to go.

Related articles

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Of Mice and Manuel

The Mets are below .500, and I am here to hold Jerry Manuel partially accountable for that.

Jerry is not a good manager.  He is not a good tactician.  He doesn't put together a good lineup.  He doesn't know when to give guys a rest.  He certainly doesn't handle the bullpen well.

While I think Jerry is a great guy and well liked by his players, he is not a winner and he should be relieved now.

During his tenure with the Mets, Jerry has put up an overall .490 winning percentage.

Rk   Year Age                Tm                 Lg    G   W   L W-L% Finish
1    1998  44 Chicago White Sox                 AL  162  80  82 .494      2
2    1999  45 Chicago White Sox                 AL  161  75  86 .466      2
3    2000  46 Chicago White Sox                 AL  162  95  67 .586      1
4    2001  47 Chicago White Sox                 AL  162  83  79 .512      3
5    2002  48 Chicago White Sox                 AL  162  81  81 .500      2
6    2003  49 Chicago White Sox                 AL  162  86  76 .531      2
                                                                           
7    2008  54     New York Mets        NL 2nd of 2   93  55  38 .591      2
8    2009  55     New York Mets                 NL  162  70  92 .432      4
9    2010  56     New York Mets                 NL   37  18  19 .486      4
                        Chicago White Sox  6 years  971 500 471 .515    2.0
                            New York Mets  3 years  292 143 149 .490    3.3
                                    Total  9 years 1263 643 620 .509    2.4

Jerry has a difficult time sitting his "star" players.  To whit, Jeff Francoeur is hitting .102 with a .148 OBP and .102 Slg % in the month of May, yet Jerry tosses him out there day after painful day while other options sit on the bench.  Francoeur finally gets a day off today after striking out 16 times in his last 11 games with just 4 hits.  During Francoeur's brutal stretch he has left a slew of men on base.

Jerry has "hunches" based on "gut feel" and uses them with regularity.  One of those hunches was to bat Jose Reyes third despite the fact that he was struggling and coming back off a long layoff.   This move hurt two players as it moved David Wright out of the 3-hole to fifth in the order.  Moreover, he had Reyes bunt out of the three spot in the order on numerous occasions, which is absolutely the wrong thing to do.  Keith Hernandez was positively apoplectic when Jerry did this, and every Met fan I know agreed with Keith.

Despite the fact that the Reyes experiment was a dismal failure, Jerry again stubbornly refused to change, and I personally believe Omar Minaya had to intervene to have Reyes put back to his rightful position at the top of the order.

Jerry's other issue is the 2 hole hitter.  His utter ignorance when it comes to advanced baseball statistics is baffling.  Rule #1--you want your best hitters to get the most at-bats (see above, re: David Wright)

Jerry ignores rule #1 every time he puts out a lineup that has Luis Castillo or Alex Cora batting second.  Jerry loves the scrappy guy that can bunt in the 2 hole, but that thinking went out the door in the early 90s when stats showed how ineffective bunting and no power is at the top of the order.

The bullpen.  The Mets have the #1 and #2 players in ALL of baseball in appearances.  Fernando Nieve and Pedro Feliciano have appeared in the most games and that trend shows no sign of slowing down--until they get injured, which is inevitable given their current workload.  Jennry Mejia, who is but 20 years old, has appeared in the 12th most games in ALL of baseball.  This is a pace that will likely ruin the young man and prevent him from reaching his potential.  Jerry has no objection to throwing Mejia out there in utterly meaningless blowouts.  It's criminal.

It's time for Jerry to go--the game has passed him by, and it's likely that he was never in it in the first place.

I've posted the 20 major mistakes Jerry has made in 2010 before, but in case you missed them, here they are:

1. Refuses to set a lineup based on OBP, Slg, OPS to maximize production
2. Double-switched his best hitter, David Wright, in extra-innings so that his emergency catcher and pinch hitter, Fernando Tatis, would remain available in the off-chance Rod Barajas got hurt
3. Insistence on starting GMJ to "get him going" with pitiful results
4. Assigning a permanent batting slot for the 2nd baseman(batting 2nd) 
5. Frank Catalanatto hitting cleanup
6. Changing pitchers for L/R matchups before the pinch-hitters are announced into the game-- twice in one inning (see: the St. Louis Grand Slam loss)
7. Batting GMJ leadoff
8. Batting Tatis ahead of Frenchy Sunday night
9. Using Feliciano on Sunday night down 10 which led to him being 4 days in a row and perhaps indirectly to Cabreras HR
10. Warming up Feliciano on Friday night with an 8-1 lead in the 9th
11. Warming up his closer 10 times in an extra inning game
12. Jacobs hitting cleanup
13. Telling Francessa that Takahashi couldn't come in to the Sunday night Phillies massacre earlier b/c he was taking a dump
14. Not using a Mejia in extra innings against a lineup with only one good LHB
15. Fernando Nieve: Every. Effing. Day
16. Putting in Mejia against a lefty then pulling him after a walk and bringing in Pedro against a righty
17. Taking Jose Reyes Out of the Leadoff Spot
18. Jerry's refusal to move Bay out of the cleanup spot
19. Having Castillo bunt against a position player pitching
20. Said Pelfrey couldn't start 3 days after getting the save because his arm may be tired out...then goes on to start him

Jose to Leadoff--Hopes to Spark Team

Tonight's lineup:

Jose Reyes
Luis Castillo
Angel Pagan
Jason Bay
David Wright
Ike Davis
Jeff Francoeur
Rod Barajas
John Maine

I just wish Chris Carter can get a start or two ahead of First Pitch Frenchy, who is mired in one of the worst slumps I've ever seen.

A Tale of Three Mets Players

A not so long time ago, in a land not so far away there were three players:  David Wright, Jeff Francoeur and Luis Castillo.

These three players each approached an at-bat in a much different way.

The first player, David Wright, is easily the most talented of the three.  He has a great track record, can hit for power and average, and is physically gifted.  He is striking out in over 30% of his at-bats.

Unfortunately, he has lost his ability to hit pitches down, and he now chases them with regularity.  He is also prone to chase the high fastball, which he swings and misses through, as you can see below:

The second player, Jeff Francoeur, has no plate discipline--he swings at everything.  He is striking out in 16.5% of his at-bats.  His chart shows a player who will chase up, down, inside, outside, and it really doesn't matter what type of pitch it is:

The third player easily has the best plate discipline--some say he is too disciplined.  He almost never swings at a ball, except for the occasional low changeup, but he also has a tendency to let good pitches go through.  Still, you have to admire his batting eye and the fact that he strikes out only 4.24% of the time.

When you see the charts it tells you what your eyes have already told you. 

David Wright is getting beat up and also inside, and swinging at too many pitches that are low.  Jeff Francoeur is swinging at anything and everything and has zero plate discipline and poor pitch recognition.  Luis has a great eye, but not much in the way of a swing, and he will let many a good pitch go by.  When he does make contact it's a grounder 32.2% of the time.

There is no moral to our story, only understanding, and a certain degree of frustration.

It's enough to make Aesop cry and Jerry call for more bunts (as if he needed an excuse).

What to Do With Jeff Francoeur?

Jeff Francoeur is in a funk--a major funk.

We only need to look at the numbers to see a player that has a serious deficiency in terms of his approach at the plate.

Francoeur is swinging at the first pitch a staggering 46% of the time.

The league average is 25%.

Ike Davis swings at the first pitch 21% of the time--David Wright does it 29% of the time.

Francoeur has not worked into many hitters counts either.  He's seen a 3-1 count in only 7% of his at-bats compared to 11% for the rest of the team.

Finally, he is swinging at 56% of ALL pitches he sees.  The rest of the league, including pitchers, swings at 44% of pitches.

He's walked twice since April 18th, with 16 strikeouts over that span.

The worst part of this is that early in the season Francoeur was working the pitcher and seeing more pitches and getting better counts.  This means that his recent performance has been REALLY sub-par, given that he went from league average to way below league average in a very short period of time.

The question is, how to change him from these bad habits?  How to get him to look at a pitch or two, even if it means watching a first pitch fastball right down the middle?

I honestly don't know the answer, and until someone gives him some sort of ultimatum, it's going to be more of the same.

Perhaps a few games on the bench will convince him of the error of his ways.

Chris Carter Called Up

The Mets had finally seen enough.

Enough of the game Frank Catalanotto trying to hang on, and enough of the fiery and hard-working Chris Carter continue to swing the bat well at Buffalo.

Carter is up, Cat is gone.

I also believe that Jeff Francoeur's struggles had something to do with it as well, and that Carter just might see some time in rightfield.

Carter will certainly pair with Fernando Tatis as the Mets primary pinch-hitting tandem.

There is zero downside to this move, and it just might give the Mets the shot in the arm they need.

Lastly, the Mets are going to need a DH soon, and Carter is likely to be given that role.

Chris Carter   35 | RF Buffalo BisonsTriple-A International League

Stats AVG: .336 HR: 6 RBI: 22

Full Name: William Chris Carter Born: 09/16/1982 Birthplace: Fremont, CA College: Stanford Height: 6' 0" Weight: 230 Bats: L Throws: L

Player  POS  G  AB  R  H  2B  3B  HR  RBI  TB  BB  SO  SB  CS  OBP  SLG  AVG  OPS  E  Chris Carter RF 28 109 16 37 8 2 6 20 67 8 8 0 0 .395 .615 .339 1.010 0

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Memo to Jerry: Fix the Lineup Now

The Mets are in an offensive funk, and the Gods of math and baseball are shaking their heads at Jerry Manuel.

It is painfully obvious what the lineup should be, yet Jerry continues to put his special brand of craziness on it.

Here's what the lineup should be and why:

Jose Reyes
Angel Pagan
David Wright
Jason Bay
Ike Davis
Jeff Francoeur
Rod Barajas
Luis Castillo
Pitcher

To whit:

• Jose Reyes has a .356 OBP with 145 SB from 2007-09, yet only a .283 OBP lifetime batting third. Jerry has him batting third.
• Angel Pagan has a .400 OBP .900 OPS 2007-09 hitting second. Luis Castillo has a .360 OBP .666 OPS in 2010 hitting second.  Jerry has Castillo batting second and Pagan leading off.  I wrote a detailed stats piece on why Angel Pagan should bat second here.
• David Wright has a .446 OBP .909 OPS hitting third in 2010 and .398 OBP .909 2007-09. Jerry has Wright batting fifth.
• Jeff Francoeur has a .313 OBP and .709 OPS in the 6 hole from 2007-09, and a .268 OBP, .568 OPS hitting 7th. Jerry has Francoeur hitting seventh.
• Rod Barajas is tied for the team lead in home runs and has an OPS 113 points higher than Luis Castillo.  Jerry has Barajas hitting eighth and Castillo second.

With Jerry's "Very special lineup" the Mets are:

19th in MLB in Runs
24th in OPS
27th in MLB in Batting Average

Jerry--fix the lineup and let math be your friend.  And one more thing--the next time you start Gary Mathews Jr you should be fired.

Mets vs Jamie Moyer

GMJ is batting leadoff tonight, and looking at the numbers, it's a good move:

Player	PA	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
David Wright	50	47	20	4	0	3	11	1	3	0.426	0.440	0.702	1.142
Jose Reyes	46	43	12	2	2	1	3	2	5	0.279	0.311	0.488	0.799
Luis Castillo	31	26	8	5	0	0	0	5	0	0.308	0.419	0.500	0.919
Jeff Francoeur	30	30	9	1	0	0	1	0	1	0.300	0.300	0.333	0.633
Fernando Tatis	25	22	8	1	0	1	4	3	1	0.364	0.440	0.545	0.985
Gary Matthews	24	23	7	3	0	2	3	1	3	0.304	0.333	0.696	1.029
Henry Blanco	11	11	5	0	0	0	1	0	0	0.455	0.455	0.455	0.909
Oliver Perez	10	9	2	0	0	0	0	1	3	0.222	0.300	0.222	0.522
Alex Cora	10	7	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0.429	0.500	0.714	1.214
Rod Barajas	9	8	2	0	0	1	2	0	1	0.250	0.250	0.625	0.875
Jason Bay	8	8	3	1	0	1	2	0	1	0.375	0.375	0.875	1.250
Angel Pagan	6	6	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.167	0.167	0.167	0.333
John Maine	5	5	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.200	0.200	0.200	0.400
Mike Pelfrey	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.000
Fernando Nieve	2	2	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	0.500	0.500	0.500	1.000
Total	277	256	83	17	3	9	28	14	21	0.324	0.363	0.52	0.882

Good Morning First Place Mets Fans!

I have to keep this short as my real job takes precedence this morning, but I'll catch up with you later.

First place?

Six wins in a row?

David Wright maybe coming out of his funk?

A Jason Bay HR?

More great pitching?

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!!!!

National League
EAST	W	L	PCT	GB	HOME	ROAD	RS	RA	DIFF	STRK	L10
NY Mets	12	9	.571	-	10-5	2-4	89	69	+20	Won 6	8-2
Philadelphia	11	9	.550	.5	3-3	8-6	107	84	+23	Lost 3	3-7
Florida	11	10	.524	1	5-4	6-6	102	97	+5	Lost 1	5-5
Washington	11	10	.524	1	7-6	4-4	90	105	-15	Won 1	5-5
Atlanta	8	12	.400	3.5	5-4	3-8	77	85	-8	Lost 7	2-8

Luis Castillo is the Most Consistent Met in 2010

Lost among the shuffle between David Wright's strikeouts, Jason Bay's awful two weeks, Jeff Francoer's hot and cold start, Jose Reyes moving to third in the order, and the general wild ride that is the Mets 2010 season is one simple and overlooked fact:

Luis Castillo is off to a very consistent season.

How consistent?

Consider this:  He has been on base in every one of his starts this year.  Yes, a perfect 14 for 14.  Moreover, he is 1 for 2 as a pinch hitter, so he's been on base in 15 of the 16 games in which he's appeared.

While the overall numbers aren't great, he's batting .273 with a .354 OBP and pitiful .327 OPS, he has been effective.

You could also argue that if the players hitting behind him had been hitting, David Wright and Jason Bay in particular, Luis could easily have a dozen runs scored to this point vice the 6 he has now.

Castillo has 15 hits and 8 walks against only 3 Ks.  He's also chipped in 3 stolen bases, including 2 last night, and played solid defense at second.

Think he hasn't helped during this winning streak?  In the last week, Luis is hitting an even .300 with a .391 OBP and an OPS of .791.  Very good numbers indeed.

Luis is a bit of a punching bag amongst Mets fans and bloggers, but I see him as a consistent piece of the puzzle that gets on base and does enough.

I certainly appreciate the consistency even if no one else does.

Games through April 25, 2010																Year to Date
DATE	OPP	RESULT	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	OBP	SLG	OPS	AVG
Apr 5	FLA	W 7-1	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	.200	.000	.200	.000
Apr 7	FLA	L 7-6	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	.222	.000	.222	.000
Apr 8	FLA	L 3-1	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.231	.100	.331	.100
Apr 9	WAS	W 8-2	Did not play
Apr 10	WAS	L 4-3	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.286	.182	.468	.182
Apr 11	WAS	L 5-2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.267	.167	.434	.167
Apr 13	@COL	L 11-3	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.263	.188	.451	.188
Apr 14	@COL	L 6-5	3	1	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	.292	.211	.503	.211
Apr 15	@COL	W 5-0	5	2	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.310	.292	.602	.250
Apr 16	@STL	L 4-3	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	.324	.286	.610	.250
Apr 17	@STL	W 2-1	7	0	2	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	.333	.286	.619	.257
Apr 18	@STL	L 5-3	Did not play
Apr 19	CHC	W 6-1	4	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	.326	.282	.608	.256
Apr 20	CHC	W 4-0	4	0	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	.353	.302	.655	.279
Apr 21	CHC	L 9-3	4	1	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	.345	.340	.685	.277
Apr 22	CHC	W 5-2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	.345	.327	.672	.265
Apr 23	ATL	W 5-2	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	.339	.308	.647	.250
Apr 24	ATL	W 3-1	Did not play
Apr 25	ATL	W 1-0	3	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	0	.354	.327	.681	.273
Monthly Totals			55	6	15	1	1	0	5	8	3	3	1	.354	.327	.681	.273
			AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	OBP	SLG	OPS	AVG
Totals			55	6	15	1	1	0	5	8	3	3	1	.354	.327	.681	.273