Mets Struggles This Season Should Not Be Surprising

The Mets need to awaken to the fact that their past actions are the basis for their current woes. Until they realize that, their fans will continue to suffer. Even great pitchers won't win a lot of games if their team cannot score runs. And though the Mets pitchers are good, none of them can be called great at this point of their career.

Here are some hard facts that provide evidence of the Mets offensive woes.

Of the 15 teams in the National League, after 68 games the Mets rank

• 13th in RBIs with only 244
• 13th in runs scored with 250
• 13th in the batting average of their pinch-hitters (.179)
• 14th in At Bats/Homers ratio
• 14th in team batting average - .234
• Last in number of At Bats
• Last in ground ball/fly ball ratio
• 13th in BABIP
• 3rd in percentage of times they've struck out
• 1st in percent of batted balls hit to the "pull" field
• Last in percent of batted balls hit to the opposite field

What those stats show is that the Mets have a hitting problem. Or should I say, a HITTING problem. Of all the stats above, the one that jumps out at me is the fact that the Mets are dead last in the number of times they have come to bat. So bringing up one player from the minors, e.g., Brandon Nimmo, as some other Mets bloggers are shouting for the Mets to do is not going to solve the team's problem. Nor is trading for a proven hitter, as last season's trade for Cespedes has shown. That's because it is a TEAM problem, not a problem with any one player.

Interestingly, the player leading the Major Leagues in hitting with a .358 is one whom the Mets probably could have signed before this season began: Daniel Murphy. But the Mets power brokers nixed that idea. Despite his fielding issues, he would have been a great replacement for David Wright.