Schwei: Jose Reyes And David Wright: The Mets' Dynamic Duo
By John Schweibacher
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This past week, Jose Reyes and David Wright appeared in their 800th game together. The duo has played in more games together for the Mets than any other pair of players in club history, topping the combo of Bud Harrelson and Jerry Grote who played in 744 games together for the Mets.
While the left side of the infield has remained relatively stable over the past seven seasons, the Mets have had plenty of second basemen over that same span.
Since Wright made his debut with the Mets in July of 2004, the club has now had 28 different players appear in at least one game at second base, including three new ones so far this season. Here is a list of all the Mets 2nd baseman since Wright joined the Mets in 2004 listed by the season they first appeared at that position:
2004: (6) Danny Garcia, Jose Reyes, Joe McEwing, Jeff Keppinger, Ty Wigginton and Kaz Matsui.
2005: (5) Miguel Cairo, Marlon Anderson, Chris Woodward, Anderson Hernandez and Jose Offerman.
2006: (1) Jose Valentin.
2007: (4) Luis Castillo, Damion Easley, Ruben Gotay and David Newhan.
2008: (2) Argenis Reyes and Ramon E. Martinez.
2009: (3) Alex Cora, Fernando Tatis and Wilson Valdez.
2010: (4) Ruben Tejada, Joaquin Arias, Luis Hernandez and Justin Turner.
2011: (3) Brad Emaus, Daniel Murphy and Chin-lung Hu.
Of the 28, only Jose Offerman and Wilson Valdez did not start a game for the Mets at 2nd base. David Newhan is the only one who did not appear in at least one game at 2nd base while David Wright was playing 3rd. To date, 129 different players have now appeared in a game at second base for the Mets, 142 have played third.
Jason Bay made his return to the Mets' lineup last week and went 5-for-15 with a homer, three runs batted in and three runs scored in four games, all four of which were Mets' victories.
The Mets' record in games in which Bay has played is now 51 and 45. New York is just 37 and 51 without Bay going back to the start of last season. With Angel Pagan going on the disabled list one day after Bay's return, the Mets have played just seven games in 2010 and 2011 with Bay, Pagan and Carlos Beltran as their starting outfield.
Mike Pelfrey notched his first win of 2011 by beating the Diamondbacks last Friday night. It was also the first Mets win this season in any of Pelfrey's five starts. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it marked the first time since 1974 that the Mets went this long without winning a game behind their opening day starting pitcher.
That season, the Mets dropped all four of Tom Seaver's first four starts. Seaver got no-decisions that April in the Mets 5-4 opening day loss in Philadelphia and again in an 8-7 Mets defeat vs. St. Louis at Shea. "Tom Terrific" then suffered losses to both the Expos and Pirates before going the distance with a four-hit shutout to pick up his first win in San Francisco.
Jason Pridie made his Mets debut last week and collected his first major league hit, home run and runs batted in. Pridie is wearing uniform number 20. Tommie Agee, the 1969 World Series hero, was the first Mets centerfielder to wear number 20 but the magic of that numeral has so far eluded the six Mets who have worn number 20 while appearing in centerfield for the club since.
Here is a list of the now seven players who wore number 20 as a Mets centerfielder:
Tommie Agee (1968-1972)
Howard Johnson (1985-1993)
Ryan Thompson (1994-1995)
Kurt Abbott (2000)
Jeromy Burnitz (2002-2003)
Prentice Redman (2003)
Jason Pridie (2010)
The Mets face a pair of National League East rivals on the road this week as they take on the Washington Nationals and Philadelphia Phillies.
The Nationals took two of three during the Mets home opening series at Citi Field earlier this month. The Mets won five of their nine games against the Nats in Washington last season after dropping six of nine in 2009.
The Mets come into the series with a four-game winning streak thanks to a three-game sweep of Arizona. The Mets have not swept an N.L. East opponent in a road series of at least three games since taking all three games in Nationals Park back on August 12th, 13th and 14th of 2008 with victories from starting pitchers Johan Santana, John Maine and Oliver Perez.
The Mets will make their second visit of 2011 to Philadelphia this weekend. The Phils bounced back from a series opening loss to the Mets to take two of three at Citizens Bank Park in the first series meeting.
The Mets swept the Phillies in their first-ever visit to Citizens Bank Park back on May 31st, June 1st and 2nd, 2004 but have managed just one series sweep there since, taking all three games in Philadelphia on June 13th, 14th and 15th of 2006.
Schwei's Runs, Hits and Errors:
Runs: Four in a row. Mets four-game winning streak is the club's first since a four-game sweep of the Pirates at Citi Field last September.
Hits: 10 Deep. Mets hit 10 home runs during six-game homestand after hitting just 10 total over the first 16 games of the season.
Errors: Walks. After allowing the most bases on balls in the National League in 2010, Mets pitchers have walked 85 so far in 2011, second only to the Cubs 89 for the most in the N.L.
What do you expect from the Mets this week? Let Schwei know in the comments below...
