Limping Home

The Mets limp home after their 2 and 9 post all-star break road trip to face the St. Louis Cardinals and the Arizona Diamondbacks.

It has been a roller-coaster season so far in 2010 for the Mets. Here is the club's month-by-month record and runs scored and allowed as they finish up the July schedule this week:

Jason Bay continues to struggle in his first season as a Met. Barring a big second-half turnaround, Bay seems likely to wind up with this group of Mets who had less than stellar debut seasons with New York after being acquired the previous winter:

Jason Bay
2009 with Red Sox: .267 36 119
2010 with Mets: .260 6 47

George Foster
1981* with Reds: .295 22 90
1982 with Mets: .247 13 70

Bobby Bonilla
1991 with Pirates: .302 18 100
1992 with Mets: .249 19 70

Carlos Beltran
2004 with KC/Hou .267 38 104
2005 with Mets: .266 16 78

(*strike shortened season)

Albert Pujols leads the Cardinals into their series with the Mets at Citi Field. The St. Louis' slugger has hit .317 lifetime against the Mets with 19 homers and 58 runs batted in. Those totals are Pujols' most vs. any team outside of the N.L. Central. In his six games against the Mets at Citi Field in 2009, Pujols hit .429 (9-for-21) with two home runs and seven RBI's. Only Ryan Howard (9), Garrett Anderson, Nick Johnson and Cody Ross (7 apiece) drove in as many runs vs. the Mets at their new ballpark last season.

The Diamondbacks' Mark Reynolds hit four home runs against the Mets last season in Arizona's lone visit to Citi Field. Here are the all-time opponent home run leaders in the brief season and a half history of the Mets' new ballpark:
· Mark Reynolds 4
· Ryan Howard 4
· Chase Utley 4
· Jorge Cantu 3
· Matt Diaz 3
· Adam Dunn 3

Here is the list of players who have hit four or more homers as Mets so far at Citi Field:
· Angel Pagan 9
· David Wright 9
· Jeff Francoeur 8
· Daniel Murphy 7
· Ike Davis 6
· Fernando Tatis 6
· Rod Barajas 5
· Gary Sheffield 5
· Jose Reyes 4

The Mets recently snapped a 13-game stretch in which they failed to score more than four runs in any game. The last time the Mets had a longer streak was back in 1981  when they went 17 straight games scoring four runs or fewer from August 23rd through September 8th that season.

The Mets went 7 and 10 during those 17 games and were only shut out twice. Mike Scott was the Mets starter in both of those shutout losses, losing to future Met Bruce Berenyi, who threw a two-hit shutout for the Reds on August 24th at Riverfront Stadium and his future Astros teammate Bob Knepper, who blanked New York, 8-0, on three hits September 2nd at the Astrodome.

Schwei's Hits, Runs and Errors:

Runs: Mets Bullpen. Relievers allowed just three earned runs in 22 innings in last six games of road trip but went 0 and 3.

Hits: Opponents Walk-offs. Mets suffer two more game-ending hits on road trip giving them major-league 'leading' 12, the club's most in a season since allowing 13 in 1989.

Errors: Road trip. Mets go 2 and 9 on post all-star break trip and are shut out four times, the second most on any road trip in club history.

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