These are dangerous times for the Mets. The Phillies own them psychologically. As a result, they own the NL East. Now comes word that Mike Pelfrey has some tightness in his shoulder and had an MRI exam.
First things first, the Mets need to be more intimidating from the start. Though it’s a good idea to have a switch-hitter in the No. 3 spot, Jose Reyes is not yet ready for that role, and with the emergence of Ike Davis, Jerry Manuel needs to slip Reyes back into the much more comfortable leadoff position.
Reyes is at home there and he is most dangerous in that role. The bottom line is that without Carlos Beltran, the Mets are a bat short. Bat Reyes leadoff, move David Wright back to three and put Davis fifth behind Jason Bay.
Reyes was 1-for-13 against the Phillies batting third. Considering his spring training woes, Reyes has too much on his plate to be making this kind of adjustment in-season. In his nine games batting third he is hitting .187, and has one extra base hit, a double.
A No. 3 hitter has to have pop and Reyes may be trying too hard to create power in that position, especially when the competition is the Phillies, instead of creating runs as a leadoff hitter. Essentially, he’s trying too hard — and it shows. He’s not being patient at the plate.
The Mets need to work with their strengths when it comes to battling the Phillies. They have to approach every game as if it is Game 7 of the NLCS. They were feeling pretty good about themselves heading into the weekend and smashed the Phillies on Friday night, a Phillies team that had just returned from the West Coast.
Then the Phillies beat up Pelfrey and Johan Santana.
Pelfrey has some tightness in his shoulder. Considering that, it would not be a bad idea to push him back or skip his next start. Shoulder tightness comes with the territory, but Pelfrey needs to be handled with extra care.
Combine that with the fact that Santana’s velocity is disturbingly down and the Mets have some pitching issues that have to be watched closely.
It didn’t help Sunday night that Manuel decided to give Davis and Angel Pagan the night off on a nationally televised game. He should have found another day to rest Davis and get Fernando Tatis a start. After playing so many home games in spacious Citi Field, no player wants to “rest’’ at cozy Citizens Bank Park. That was a mistake by Manuel.
Manuel and his players have to learn that when you play the Phillies you can never take your foot off the pedal. If you put up three runs in the first with Wright’s home run, do whatever you can to add a run in the second. In their ballpark, the Phillies are much like the Red Sox used to be in Fenway: They know they can keep chipping away; no lead is out of reach.
That is one reason the Phillies are such a strong team: Their confidence level is sky high. As Santana said after the loss, “They got a pretty good team over there. You make mistakes, they make you pay.’’
Going into Monday, the Phillies are third in the majors in runs scored with 144, the Mets are 18th with 110 runs. The Phillies are 10th in home runs (26). The Mets are 22nd (20). The Phillies are eighth in on base percentage at .345, the Mets are 21st with a .320 mark.
The Mets have to pick up the pieces against the Reds. That meant Oliver Perez has to make an actual contribution to the team. With Pelfrey and Santana failing in successive starts, the pressure was on Perez against the underwhelming 12-13 Reds.
The Mets will not get another shot at the Phillies for three weeks, right after they play three against the Yankees. These are dangerous times.