Mets Statistics: One new career-high, one brutal streak for the pitchers

One member of the New York Mets has a career-high in RBI while the starting pitching has extended a streak we didn’t expect to see.

After the loss to their Philadelphia Phillies on Friday, there were two New York Mets statistics I found on Twitter worth mentioning. One was good. The other was brutally bad.

Let’s start with the good because it’s a holiday weekend and I’m in the mood for feeling positive.

Dominic Smith had an RBI single in this game, raising his RBI total up to 27 on the year. Amazingly, after just 32 games played and fewer plate appearances than he has had in any previous year, Smith has already set a career-high at the major league level.

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It’s not exactly a shock but it is a nice measure of just how well Smith is producing at the plate in 2020. He’ll come close to setting a few more personal bests before September is through. Among the major numbers, RBI has fallen first.

Now for the bad. This one is about the starting pitching. And man is it a bad one.

Following the no-decision by Rick Porcello in this same game, the Mets have now gone 19 consecutive games without seeing their starting pitcher win a game. It’s unbelievable. How can a team possibly still be alive in the playoff hunt without their starters accidentally winning a game?

When was this game, you ask? I did the math and 19 games ago was on August 13th against the Washington Nationals. David Peterson won his third game of the year in this one.

There are two simple explanations as to why the Mets starting pitchers are coming away with no-decisions or losses. The simplest is that they just aren’t winning very much. The team is either losing or seeing a reliever get the decision either via a comeback or blown save; sometimes both.

The other is that the Mets starters aren’t lasting as long as they should. Five innings are required for earning a win in baseball. Getting fifteen outs from most of these guys is no guarantee.

The contrast between the Smith RBI total and the starting pitching woes represent how this year has gone for the Mets so far. Smith has performed better than many expected. He’s now finding himself hitting in the middle of many lineups.

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Meanwhile, the starting pitching has let the team down. It’s not all their fault but it’s certainly not the strength the team has had for the last several years.