Curtis Granderson Has Become an RBI Machine

There have been plenty of happy moments for Curtis Granderson and the Mets in the month of September.  (AP Photo)

About a month ago, I wrote a piece entitled "Curtis Granderson Chases Unwanted History One RBI at a Time".  When the post was published, Granderson had 20 homers and just 34 RBI.  Each of his last 17 homers had been of the solo variety (that streak eventually reached 18).  Because of his inability to drive in runs without the ball leaving the park and his propensity for not doing anything positive when there were runners on base, I surmised that Granderson would set the record for fewest runs batted in per home run of any player who hit 20+ HR.

But just like former Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck's scoring guarantee in a playoff game against the Packers, I may have been a little premature with my prediction about Granderson.

After driving in a total of 16 runs in July and August, a two-month stretch in which he had 195 plate appearances, Granderson has notched a team-leading 17 RBI in the month of September in just 83 plate appearances - an average of one RBI every 4.88 PA.  Furthermore, Granderson has picked some huge moments in which to drive in those runs, and although he's still hitting plenty of homers (his seven homers in September are tied for the N.L. lead), he's finally found a way to drive in his teammates when they've been on base in front of him.

In Friday night's win over the Phillies, Granderson drove in the first run in the Mets' game-changing six-run rally in the fifth inning.  Last Saturday, he became the first Met to hit two home runs in extra innings, producing the tying home run in the 11th inning against the Twins and the game-winning blast an inning later.  Four days before that, Granderson's RBI triple gave the Mets the lead in a game they eventually won in extra innings.  On September 9, he crushed a two-run homer off Met killer Julio Teheran when the Mets were trailing the Braves by four runs in the sixth inning, then delivered a game-tying single in the eighth frame.  The Mets went on to win to complete the rally from a four-run deficit to win the game, 6-4.  And finally, On September 3, Granderson turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead with a two-run single off Nationals starter Tanner Roark in a game eventually won by the Mets, 3-1.

After hitting 18 consecutive solo homers earlier in the season, four of Granderson's last eight home runs have come with at least one man on base.  In addition, five of Granderson's last seven homers have either tied the game or given the Mets the lead.  It should be added that none of those home runs came with Granderson batting in the leadoff spot, where hitting a home run in the first inning would usually give the Mets an early lead.

On the morning of August 20, the Mets were 60-62 and Curtis Granderson had 20 HR and 34 RBI.  Since then, the Mets are 22-10 and Granderson has produced nine homers and 21 RBI.  His lack of run production was close to becoming historically bad in the annals of baseball.  Now his 55 RBI for the season have Granderson tied for second on the Mets behind only Yoenis Céspedes.  Simply stated, Granderson's RBI turnaround has been nothing short of Amazin'.

Maybe it was the acquisition of Reds' right fielder Jay Bruce that got Mets' right fielder Curtis Granderson to start driving in runs.  Or perhaps the Grandy Man has been drinking some of current Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson's "miracle water".  Whatever the reason, there's no denying the fact that not only has Granderson become an RBI machine for the Mets, he's driven in most of those runs in key moments of game, with many of those runs batted in contributing greatly to Mets victories.

Without question, Granderson's hunger for run production has certainly made all the critics (myself included) eat their words.

Bartolo Colon's Hitting Prowess Is A Recipe For Success

Bartolo Colon pitched a beautiful game for the Mets on Friday night, allowing one run on six hits in seven innings.  Colon walked none and struck out five - four of which came on called third strikes.  The win was Colon's third victory in three starts this year, giving him a 207-141 lifetime record and a .595 career winning percentage.

Clearly, Colon is one of the more dependable pitchers of his generation, as his teams have produced a 252-187 record (.574 winning percentage) in his 439 career starts.  But Colon's performances on the mound don't give his teams the best chance to win a game.  It's when he performs at the plate that his teams are almost unbeatable.

Although Colon may be shaped like Babe Ruth, his hitting shape is a totally different story.  Colon has struck out in more than half of his plate appearances (92 K in 180 PA) and has managed just 13 hits and no walks in 164 career at-bats.  Colon has driven in a total of seven runs in those 15 dozen plate appearances, or two fewer than Carlos Delgado had in one game for the Mets in 2008.  Simply stated, when Colon swings at a pitch, he has a better chance to lose his helmet than he does of adding a hit or RBI to his lifetime totals.

But when he does collect a hit or drive in a run, well, that's when special things happen to his teams.

When Bartolo Colon produces at the plate, his teams are nearly perfect. (Adam Hunger/USA TODAY)

As previously stated, Colon has seven RBI in his career, driving in those runs in six games (Colon had a two-RBI game for the Expos in 2002).  How did his teams perform in those affairs?  They won all six.  Included in that 6-0 mark is each of the last two games Colon has started for the Mets - the first time in his 18-year career that Colon has put together back-to-back games with at least one RBI.

Colon is twice as likely to collect a hit than drive in a run in a major league game, as his 13 career hits have been collected in 12 contests.  (Colon's sole multi-hit effort occurred in the aforementioned two-RBI game.)  His teams are close to perfect in those dozen games, going 11-1 when Colon shocks the world by getting a hit.  The only time a Colon-led team lost a game in which he collected a hit was on July 23, 2002, when he went 1-for-2 for the Expos, but lost the game, 4-3.  Who was the only team that was able to defy the odds by defeating Colon when he collected a rare hit?  Why, it was none other than your New York Mets.

Bartolo Colon was signed to a two-year deal by Sandy Alderson because of his winning pedigree and his ability to be a positive presence in the clubhouse.  Colon has certainly done what Alderson expected him to do, as the Mets have won 20 of his 34 starts.  Colon has also been able to assist with the team's young pitchers with his extensive knowledge of the game, helping Mets pitchers put up a stellar 2.63 ERA and 1.03 WHIP through the team's first 11 games - both of which rank second in the league behind the St. Louis Cardinals.

But Colon has also unexpectedly helped the Mets with his bat.  Last Sunday, his fourth-inning RBI single broke a 2-2 tie in a game eventually won by the Mets, 4-3.  And last night, his fifth-inning sacrifice fly knotted the game against the Marlins and got the Mets' offense going in the team's 4-1 come-from-behind victory.  In doing so, Colon has continued to be his team's lucky charm whenever he has collected a hit or driven in a run.

Bartolo Colon's teams are 11-1 whenever he collects a hit.  They're an unblemished 6-0 when he drives in a run.  Nobody's perfect.  But Colon's teams are close to perfect whenever he puts on a batting clinic, even if that clinic has been closed most of the time.
 

Marlon Byrd: The Almost All-Star

Photo by Eric Risberg/AP

To say Marlon Byrd has resuscitated his career in New York would be a gross understatement.  Byrd was supposed to be a small piece in a puzzling outfield situation.  But instead, he has become one of the top run-producing outfielders in the National League.

After a grand slam on Tuesday and a two-run homer in yesterday's sweep-completing victory over the Giants, Byrd now has 15 home runs and 49 RBI, making him the team leader in both categories.  In addition, Byrd's 15 homers are tied for sixth-most in the N.L. and his 49 RBI are also the sixth-highest total in the Senior Circuit.

The only National League hitters with more home runs and runs batted in than Byrd are Carlos Gonzalez (24 HR, 63 RBI), Domonic Brown (23 HR, 64 RBI), Carlos Beltran (19 HR, 52 RBI) and Jay Bruce (18 HR, 62 RBI).  Justin Upton's 16 homers are one more than Byrd's total, but Upton only has 44 RBI - five less than Byrd.  Similarly, Michael Cuddyer's 52 RBI are three more than Byrd's output, but Cuddyer is tied with Byrd with his 15 homers.

In case you didn't know, Gonzalez, Brown, Beltran and Cuddyer are all going to be at Citi Field on Tuesday as members of the National League All-Star team.  Byrd, who plays half his games at Citi Field, will not be joining them.  But it's not as if he hasn't earned the right to be mentioned in the same breath as those fine players.

Marlon Byrd's most productive season in the majors occurred in 2009, when he swatted 20 homers and drove in 89 runs for the Texas Rangers.  Naturally, it was in that campaign that Byrd achieved a career high in RBI before the All-Star Break, with 44.  The following year, as a member of the Chicago Cubs, Byrd was selected to his only All-Star team.  At the break, he was hitting .317 with 27 doubles, nine homers and 40 RBI.  The nine homers were a career-best for Byrd at the midsummer hiatus.

Those career highs in homers (9) and RBI (44) by the break have been wiped out, courtesy of Byrd's unexpected first-half performance for the Mets in 2013.  And Byrd reached his new highs in homers (15) and RBI (49) in fewer at-bats (265) than he needed to achieve his previous career highs in those marks (287 AB in 2009, 331 AB in 2010).

As seen in the chart below, which details Marlon Byrd's first-half performances since his first full season in the majors in 2003, Byrd had never been much of a run producer in the season's first half.  His 2009 and 2010 campaigns were the only ones in which he hit more than five homers and drove in more than 25 runs.  You can now add the 2013 season to the short list of All-Star caliber first halves for Marlon Byrd.

Year	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2003	65	198	31	57	14	0	2	18	3	.288	.362	.389	.750
2004	58	214	25	48	7	2	2	18	2	.224	.297	.304	.600
2005	48	144	5	37	6	1	0	16	1	.257	.311	.313	.623
2006	78	197	28	44	8	1	5	18	3	.223	.317	.350	.667
2007	40	143	23	54	8	3	3	25	0	.378	.438	.538	.976
2008	59	175	28	43	9	2	4	15	2	.246	.328	.389	.717
2009	77	287	36	82	28	1	8	44	3	.286	.327	.474	.801
2010	87	331	47	105	27	0	9	40	4	.317	.365	.480	.845
2011	53	205	27	62	9	1	3	13	2	.302	.347	.400	.747
2012	47	143	10	30	2	0	1	9	0	.210	.243	.245	.488
2013	76	265	37	71	14	2	15	49	1	.268	.313	.506	.818
Career Total	688	2302	297	633	132	13	52	265	21	.275	.333	.412	.745

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/10/2013.

Marlon Byrd is not going to the All-Star game this season.  In fact, Byrd wasn't even one of the top 24 vote-getters among National League outfielders.  Players such as Jason Heyward (.221, 7 HR, 21 RBI in 249 AB) and Gregor Blanco (.274, 1 HR, 27 RBI in 263 AB) received more support from the fans than Byrd did.  Even B.J. Upton, who had an Ike Davis-like first half (.179, 8 HR, 20 RBI in 273 AB) got more votes than Byrd.

Byrd might not have the name recognition or track record that Heyward and Upton have in Atlanta.  He also doesn't play for a team that has won two of the last three World Series, a la Gregor Blanco.  But there's no denying that he has put up the best run-producing first-half numbers in his career.  And there's also no denying that he has quietly become one of the best run-producing outfielders in the National League.  But he's also performed well in clutch and late-inning situations.

Going into the ninth inning of their game on June 16, the Mets were down 3-0 to the Cubs and were three outs away from having a 24-40 record.  As many Mets fans know, Kirk Nieuwenhuis' three-run walk-off homer gave the Mets an unlikely victory at Citi Field, but it was Marlon Byrd's homer to start the inning that set the stage for Nieuwenhuis' game-ending heroics.  Byrd's blast was the catalyst for the Mets' resurgence over the last month, as the team has gone 16-9 since the morning of June 16.

Byrd's ninth-inning shot on June 16 should come as no surprise to fans who have been Byrd-watching all season.  Of the 29 extra-base hits (14 doubles, 15 homers) collected by Byrd in 2013, more than half of them (eight doubles, seven homers) have taken place in the seventh inning or later.

Photo by Ed Leyro/Studious Metsimus

The Mets are 10-4 when Byrd hits a home run and they are 18-12 when he drives in a run (10-4 when he drives in more than one run).  That means the Mets are 14 games under .500 when Byrd doesn't produce a homer or RBI.

Marlon Byrd may have been overlooked as an All-Star, but he has certainly not been overlooked by his teammates, his manager and by those who have a vested rooting interest in the team.  His teammates know how instrumental he has been to their recent success.  His manager can't take him out of the lineup (Byrd has played in each of the last 40 games).  And his fans go crazy on Twitter after every big hit or RBI ("Byrd is the word", "There goes another Byrd dropping in the outfield seats", etcetera).

Byrd is most definitely the word.  And those words are part of wonderful narrative for a career that looked dead after the 2012 season.  Byrd may not be an All-Star this year, but he's certainly been one of the most productive outfielders in the league in 2013.  Word.

With Or Without Reyes, Ruben Tejada Is A Keeper

In today's 7-5 victory over the Atlanta Braves, Ruben Tejada filled in for Jose Reyes both at shortstop and in the leadoff spot.  Tejada reached base three times (walk, double, single), stole a base and drove in four runs.  His two-out, three-run double in the fourth inning broke a 1-1 tie and his two-out, RBI single in the eighth inning gave the Mets a 6-5 lead, a lead they never relinquished.

Ruben Tejada was once viewed as a light-hitting, slick-fielding middle infielder, similar to Rey Ordoñez, although not as flashy.  However, this season he has shown that he can handle the bat better than anyone expected him to, and has handled pressure situations like an established veteran.

Tejada has been a model of consistency at the plate, hitting .281 vs. RHP and .276 vs. LHP.  He is also hitting .272 at Citi Field and .287 on the road.  His .356 on-base percentage ranks second on the team behind Jose Reyes for players currently on the active roster.  Tejada has also struck out only 47 times in 339 plate appearances.

But what sets him apart from the Tejada we saw in 2010 is his ability to hit under pressure and in RBI spots.  This year, Tejada is batting .304 with men on base and has a .377 OBP in those situations.  With runners in scoring position, Tejada is a .286 hitter, but has reached base at a .383 clip.  But those numbers are nothing compared to what he does when there is a runner 90 feet away from scoring.

In all situations when he has stepped to the plate with a runner on third base, Tejada is hitting .375 and has a .425 OBP.  These numbers improve when Tejada bats with the bases loaded.  In today's game, Tejada came up to bat twice with the bags full.  He cleared the bases when he doubled in the fourth and drove in another run with a bases-loaded single in the eighth, with a potential fifth RBI cut down at the plate on a fine throw by Jason Heyward.  Therefore, with his 2-for-2 performance in bases loaded situations today, Tejada is now hitting .500 this season with the bags full and has a .538 OBP.

Clearly, the stat sheet proves that Tejada is quite valuable as a hitter.  Although he doesn't hit for power, he collects base hits as a consistent pace and picks them up with more regularity when the Mets are close to scoring a run.  There is one thing that doesn't show up on the stat sheet that Tejada is also good at.  He's a master at working the count and making the opposing pitcher throw numerous pitches.

Take today's game, for example.  In the first inning, Tejada flied out, but did so on the sixth pitch of his at-bat.  In the third inning, Tejada worked out a walk on the tenth pitch of the at-bat.  By seeing 16 pitches from Braves' starter Brandon Beachy in his first two plate appearances, Tejada saw his opponent's entire repertoire and was able to make adjustments the third time he faced him.  Sure enough, Tejada hit a long double in the fourth inning off Beachy (on the second pitch of the at-bat), driving in three runs.

Ruben Tejada will never produce the numbers that Jose Reyes does when he's healthy.  In addition, no one will ever confuse the professional Tejada for the effervescent Reyes.  But don't say that Tejada can't be a key member of this team.

In only his second year on the Mets, Tejada has improved by leaps and bounds.  He makes up for his lack of power by working counts and making the pitcher throw him his pitch.  He's a fantastic situational hitter and amps up his game in tight spots. (Did I mention Tejada's a .310 hitter when he comes to bat in a tie game?  In case you were watching football and not the Mets game, today's two bases-loaded hits by Tejada came when the score was 1-1 and 5-5.)

Simply put, Ruben Tejada knows how to play the game and plays the game to win.  At the young age of 21, he has played like a ten-year veteran.  With continued development and the opportunity to play, there's no reason to think that he can't become one.  Even if Jose Reyes isn't a Met in 2012, Ruben Tejada has proven that he belongs on this team.