New York Mets: Lack of offense is becoming a major problem

NEW YORK, NY - MAY 04: Michael Conforto #30 of the New York Mets reacts after striking out with the tying run at third base to end the game against the Colorado Rockies at Citi Field on May 4, 2018 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - MAY 04: Michael Conforto #30 of the New York Mets reacts after striking out with the tying run at third base to end the game against the Colorado Rockies at Citi Field on May 4, 2018 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

The New York Mets were swept for the second time in as many series’, this time at the hands of the Colorado Rockies.

It is hard to believe that a New York Mets team who started their season 11-1 are currently enduring a six-game losing streak and have fallen to third place in the National League East division.

The offense is clearly struggling. Yoenis Cespedes and Jay Bruce have fully broken out of their early-season slumps, but it seems that every other Met has fallen into a slump just as the two outfielders have broken out.

Michael Conforto is having a really rough go of it. Since returning from a shoulder injury at the beginning of the season, Conforto is batting just .189, and his only home run came in the first game he played back on April 5. He looks really lost at the plate right now, which is something none of us are used to.

Mickey Callaway decided to give Conforto a “mental day” after starting the first game of the series and leaving with a golden sombrero. Conforto took his mental day during game two and sat again for game three since the team was facing a lefty. Callaway chalked two consecutive days out of the line up to coincidence, but it is getting harder and harder to have confidence in sending Conforto up to the plate.

Is it time to start worrying about Conforto? He doesn’t think so, but he is 0-for-his-last-13, so maybe it is time for a bit of worry.

Here is Conforto on not yet panicking, reported by MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo:

Conforto is not the only Met not hitting at the moment, in fact, it doesn’t seem that any Met is hitting at the moment. At least not consistently.

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In this last series against the Rockies, Todd Frazier went 2-for-11, Jay Bruce went 3-for-12 and Cespedes went 2-9, though exiting early from game 3 with a quad injury. That is 32 at-bats between the three of them, and they only produced 7 hits. Not to point out the obvious or beat a dead horse, but this cannot continue if the Mets are serious about contending this year.

Cespedes is unsure if his quad discomfort will keep him from starting in the first game against the Cincinnati Reds, but if it does, the rest of the Mets offense will have some huge shoes to fill, and an enormous amount of slack to pick up. Yikes.

The lone consistency we have seen from this Mets offense thus far has been Asdrubal Cabrera. Cabrera is batting .336 with 6 home runs already in this young season. To think where this team would be without Cabby is a scary thought

The Mets will now embark on a road trip to Cincinnati and Philadelphia, and the bats really need to take advantage of both of these teams to get themselves back on track.

The Reds are 8-25 this season and have a staff ERA of 5.18, the highest in the Major Leagues, making them easy prey for the once powerful Met offense to feast on.

The Phillies have passed the Mets in the division standings, but the Mets are only a half of a game behind them.

Next: Mets must plunder the Reds for a lefty reliever

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New York needs to do some serious damage on this next road trip to let the rest of baseball know that they will not go down without a fight. If they fail to take advantage of playing teams that can be easily destroyed, it might be time for Mets fans to panic.