Mets Player Performance Meter, Week 12

Last we checked in on the roster last Thursday, the Mets were two games under .500 and struggling a bit. They proceeded to win their series finale that day against the Athletics and then lost their first game in Texas before going on a run-scoring spree that ended yesterday when Justin Verlander took the mound in Detroit. Despite its flaws, the offense was a machine.

It's a good thing the team was hitting. You may not have noticed it because the games were generally so lopsided, but the starting pitching was only decent, and the bullpen was pretty bad. If ever there were a time to hide some of the lesser pitching performances, this was it. They are now 5.5 games behind the Braves for the wild card, and they're in third place in the division.

Stats below run from June June 23 through June 30.

Player	Last Week	This Week	Comment
Manny Acosta			He was all Acostalypse this week, finishing with a well-earned 12.00 ERA in three appearances.
Jason Bay, LF			Had he done nothing else besides hit the Mets' first grand slam in two years, Bay would have gotten the green arrow. He had a very good week overall, though, and he's Mr. Moneyball after drawing four walks in one game.
Pedro Beato, RP			Zero K's in 4.1 innings of work, and he allowed a dinger and a walk. Not good.
Carlos Beltran, RF			.300/.364/.567 with an incredible grand slam the inning after Bay hit his. That adds up to a .931 OPS, which looks pedestrian for a Met this week but is obviously still excellent.
Taylor Buchholz, RP			News this week was that Buchholz was at home, nowhere near rehabbing his injury. The bullpen definitely misses his arm.
Tim Byrdak, RP			It's never easy to judge Byrdak because of his limited role, but allowing a home run while only recording four outs isn't good.
Chris Capuano, SP			He gave up three dingers in Detroit, but he struck out 13 and walked none in two starts.
D.J. Carrasco, RP			He led the bullpen with 5 innings pitched and didn't embarass himself in the process.
Ike Davis, 1B			Back to the waiting game with Ike, but there's not much reason to be optimistic about his return in 2011.
R.A. Dickey, SP
Lucas Duda			Duda joined the power parade with a .632 slugging percentage despite not hitting a home run. Very good to see.
Dillon Gee, SP			Gee was pretty unspectacular in Texas and only struck out one batter in his six inning outing.
Scott Hairston, OF			One of the few Mets hitters to not destroy the ball this week. Oh well.
Willie Harris, OF			Harris got on base over forty percent of the time this week.
Jason Isringhausen, RP			Didn't pitch much, didn't pitch well.
Fernando Martinez			The multiple-nickname outfielder returned, got a plate appearance, and struck out in it.
Daniel Murphy, 2B			Murphy destroyed the ball all week to the tune of a 1.083 OPS. He didn't walk, but he did hit plenty. One thing, though: Mookie Wilson should tell him to stop trying to steal bases.
Jon Niese, SP			Niese struck out seven over 5.2 innings against the Rangers, and although he left early because of a rapid heartbeat, he's been cleared to start tonight against the Yankees.
Angel Pagan, CF			Pagan looks like he did prior to his injury and prior to his struggles as a right-handed batter early this year. .854 OPS nothing to sneeze at this week, and he stole a pair of bases.
Bobby Parnell, RP			Nothing special here, but nothing awful either. It'd be nice to see Parnell have a few excellent weeks in the event that Rodriguez gets traded.
Ronny Paulino			The Mets' lefty-mashing catcher mashed. No home runs, but he slugged .786, OPS'd 1.286.
Mike Pelfrey, SP			The Mets lost two games on their road trip to American League cities. Pelfrey started both of them. His starts aren't automatic losses, but they're definitely not exciting, either.
Jason Pridie, CF			.200/.200/.200. Yuck.
Jose Reyes, SS			1.269 OPS, stole four more bases, didn't strike out once, drew three walks. As of this morning, he's tied for the major league lead in fWAR. As good as it gets, folks.
Francisco Rodriguez, RP			Another week with an ugly ERA and barely any strikeouts. And clearly the Mets are not managing him to avoid the vesting option. I have to assume he gets traded no matter where the Mets stand at the end of the month.
Ruben Tejada			He got a few hits, but he's been pretty bad at the plate. Still not on the level of hitting major league pitching.
Josh Thole, C			Thole's been looking a lot better the past few weeks, and he hit his first home run of the year. 1.342 OPS in 18 trips to the plate.
Justin Turner, 2B			Rough week at the plate for Turner. Not that there's any need for a second base debate right now, but if there were, Murphy would be the leader.
David Wright, 3B			When Wright returns, which member of the media will be the first to blame him when the Mets lose a couple games in a row?