The Mets Have Been BABIP'ed to Death in 2017

Steven Matz was a BABIP-buster in his first start of 2017.  (Daniel Shirley/Getty Images)

The Mets have been living in a bizarro world in 2017; a world in which their offense has been decent (third in homers, seventh in runs scored, .285 BA w/RISP) but their pitching has been suspect.  The team's 4.82 ERA is third-highest in the majors, with only the cellar-dwelling Padres (4.98 ERA) and Phillies (5.00 ERA) faring worse and all American League teams (a.k.a. the league that has to face a D.H.) faring better.

Although the Mets have allowed a ton of runs over their first 60 games of the season, it could actually be a lot worse, as the team has the highest WHIP in the National League (1.478), which is just barely better than the poorest mark in the American League, held by Baltimore (1.480).

Opposing hitters are constantly getting on base against the Mets, whether it be via base hits or one of the shockingly high number of walks allowed by the team's pitchers.  And it doesn't take a rocket scientist to tell you that those lofty baserunner totals will in turn lead to crooked numbers on the scoreboard.

Batting average against, WHIP and ERA tell us part of the story of the 2017 Mets' failures on the mound, but not the complete story.  In fact, something not found in the daily boxscores could be more significant in determining how the Mets will fare for the remainder of the season.  And that something is sponsored by the letters B, A, B, I and P.

Batting average on balls in play (BABIP) is calculated by taking the number of hits that don't leave the yard and dividing that by at-bats minus strikeouts minus home runs plus sacrifice flies.  To the mathematically inclined, it looks a little something like this:

(Hits - HR) / (AB - SO - HR + SF)

At-bats that result in strikeouts and home runs cannot be affected by a defensive player, so those numbers are subtracted.  Sacrifice flies, on the other hand, are caught by the player on defense, but do not count as an at-bat for the hitter, hence why they are added in the denominator.  In layman's terms, BABIP measures the percentage of balls in play that result in base hits.

In general, a .300 BABIP is considered average.  Therefore, a pitcher who allows a BABIP under .300 generally has a solid defense behind him (they're good at getting to balls and converting them into outs).  Luck can also be a determining factor in a low BABIP, as the pitcher may be giving up line drive after line drive, but those liners may be headed directly at the defensive players' gloves.  Therefore, if a pitcher has a low BABIP, eventually it is to be expected that that figure will regress to the mean of .300 at some point.  Likewise, a pitcher who allows a BABIP over .300 can expect the balls that are put in play to find the gloves of his defense reasonably soon.

According to fangraphs.com, Mets pitchers have allowed the highest BABIP (.321) of any team in baseball this season.  No other National League team is even close, as the Pittsburgh Pirates have the second-worst BABIP against them at .308.

Jacob deGrom's BABIP?  It's an unsustainable .350, which means his 4.75 ERA is bound to go down once his BABIP begins to do the same.  Similarly, Robert Gsellman (.317 BABIP) and Zack Wheeler (.305) should also improve as the season progresses, with Gsellman already showing signs of his BABIP returning to the typical .300 level.  Even Noah Syndergaard, who was pitching extremely well before a lat injury sent him to the sidelines, had a .329 BABIP against him in five starts, which suggested that his best efforts were yet to come.

The BABIP bug that has affected deGrom, Gsellman and the plethora of spot starters on the team has also found its way to the bullpen, as Fernando Salas (31 appearances, .313 BABIP), Josh Smoker (21 appearances, .357 BABIP) and Paul Sewald (17 appearances, obscenely high .422 BABIP) have had difficulty with batted balls finding the outfield grass instead of their defense's gloves.

Unfortunately, most of these high BABIP figures are the fault of the Mets' subpar defense.  If the defense doesn't have the range or speed to get to ground balls in the hole or fly balls in the gaps, then more hits will result.  It is why teams like the Twins, Yankees and Rockies are in first place in their respective divisions, as all three of those teams rank in the top five in defensive efficiency, converting many of the balls put in play against them into outs.

For the record, the Mets' .664 defensive efficiency is the worst in the majors.

The unwritten laws of BABIP say that pitchers with a figure north of .300 will eventually allow fewer hits on balls put in play.  With the Mets sporting a major league-worst .321 BABIP entering today's game, the days of 7-6 and 9-8 losses could be coming to an end.  Saturday's doubleheader sweep of the Braves, in which the Mets allowed a total of two runs could become the norm in the very near future.  Of course, the defense is going to have to step up its game so that those BABIPs don't continue to be the downfall of what was supposedly one of the best pitching staffs in baseball.

Oh, and while on the topic of BABIP, Matt Harvey better put on his big boy pants soon.  His 5.02 ERA may be an eyesore, but it could (and should) be far worse.  Through his first 12 starts, the BABIP against him is a ridiculously low .259.  The Dark Knight may very well be looking forward to some dark nights at Citi Field once that number starts to creep up closer to the norm.

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Speaking of the Dark Knight, it is with great sadness that we mourn the passing of TV's Batman, Adam West.  West was anything but dark in the campy program, entertaining viewers through the show's reruns for half a century.  He also lent his voice and name to the mayor on "Family Guy".  West remained quite popular with fans and pop culture enthusiasts until his death Friday night at the age of 88.  His Family Guy character may have hated baseball cards, but baseball and non-baseball fans alike loved Adam West.  May he rest in peace.

How Are the Mets Scoring All These Runs?

High fives at the plate have become more prevalent for the Mets these days.  (Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

On Saturday, the Mets defeated the Miami Marlins, 11-3.  The drubbing of the Fish was the ninth consecutive game in which the team scored five or more runs.  It was also just the fifth time in franchise history that such a streak had been reached, surpassed only by a 12-game stretch in 2007.

What makes this current streak all the more impressive is that the Mets are doing it without the services of disabled sluggers Yoenis Céspedes and Lucas Duda, and with middle-of-the-order hitter Curtis Granderson batting .139.  Even the healthy players have been having a rough time during the season's first five weeks, as their combined .233 batting average is tied with the San Francisco Giants for the second-lowest in the National League.  (Only the San Diego Padres are lower, at .217.  It should be noted that the Giants and Padres have the the two worst records in the N.L., as they have combined to go 23-40 through Saturday's games.)

So what exactly have the Mets been doing to produce all these runs during this recent outburst of offense?  Smoke, mirrors and the threat of Ray Ramirez paying a visit to the visitors' clubhouse can only go so far.  Let's take a look at how a depleted team has become an offensive juggernaut practically overnight.

Rk		Strk Start	End	Games	R	H	2B	3B	HR	BB	SB	CS	BA
1	NYM	2007-08-11	2007-08-24	12	83	130	23	1	17	54	27	2	.304
2	NYM	2017-04-27	2017-05-06	9	71	91	28	1	15	35	5	2	.287
3	NYM	2006-06-06	2006-06-15	9	74	108	30	4	12	37	16	2	.319
4	NYM	2002-09-06	2002-09-13	9	61	103	14	1	15	29	12	2	.307
5	NYM	1990-06-08	1990-06-16	9	85	128	35	1	17	40	2	4	.370

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/7/2017.

In scoring nearly eight runs per game over their last nine contests, the Mets have been able to move from last place in the division to second place.  However, despite the fact that the players have been doing a conga line around the bases for the last week and a half, the team has managed to bat just .287 during those nine games.  Although this a marked improvement from their low Mendoza-like average, it's still the lowest batting average of the five Mets teams that have produced nine-game streaks of 5+ runs (see chart above).  In fact, it's the only time the Mets have had such a streak without batting over .300 or collecting 100 hits to accomplish it.

The Mets have been bunching their hits together to produce crooked numbers on the scoreboard.  During their nine-game skein, the team has come to bat in 79 innings.  They've failed to score in 50 of those frames and scored one run in ten of the innings.  For all you kids out there, that's a total of ten runs scored in 60 innings.  That means the other 61 runs during the streak have been scored in just 19 turns at bat.

In last night's game, the Mets pushed across 11 runs.  Every time they scored in an inning, they scored at least three times.  (They scored five times in the first and touched the plate three times in both the fifth and seventh.)  In their come-from-behind victory on Friday, they used another five-run seventh inning to complete their comeback.  In each of the last five games, the Mets have had at least one inning in which they scored four or more runs.  That'll certainly help a team continue a streak of 5+ runs per game.

In addition to the big innings, the Mets have also been teeing off on opposing teams' bullpens in the late innings.  The Mets have batted 25 times during the streak from the seventh inning on.  They've scored 26 runs in those 25 innings.  Included in this is Jay Bruce's grand slam with two outs in the ninth inning against the Braves on Tuesday, which pushed the Mets' run tally for the night from three runs to seven.  Yup, without the four-run blast, the 5+ run streak would have ended and I'd be writing about the sex toy in Kevin Plawecki's locker or Matt Harvey's suspension instead.  (What do you mean those would have made better topics?)

The main reason the Mets have been scoring a handful of runs a night is because they're killing it with runners in scoring position.  Prior to the streak, the Mets were doing fairly well with runners on second and/or third, batting .277 in those situations (28-for-101).  That number for the season is now up to a whopping .328 (62-for-189), as the Mets have gone 34-for-88 (.386) with runners in scoring position in their last nine games.  That would also explain why the team hasn't needed to follow their usual formula of home runs or nothing to score their runs.  The Mets failed to hit a homer in their two highest scoring games of their nine-game streak (16 runs, no homers on Wednesday; 11 runs, no homers last night).

Here's the crazy thing about this streak.  It could very well continue, or at the very least, be interrupted by no more than a game or two before a similar streak begins.  Why is that?  Because the team still has a ridiculously low .252 BABIP this season.  Eventually that number has to get closer to .300, and when it does (as it's trying to do now), the runs will light up the scoreboard.  As you can see in the chart below, over the last 14 days (ten games), the Mets have produced a slight lower-than-normal .291 BABIP and have still managed to average 7.3 runs per game.  They're averaging nearly double-digit runs per game with a .320 BABIP over the last week.

Split	GS	R	BAbip
2017 Totals	29	152	.252
Last 7 days	5	49	.320
Last 14 days	10	73	.291

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/7/2017.

Hot streaks come and go.  The one the Mets are currently on could come to an end soon.  But the low BABIP over the first five weeks and the production with runners in scoring position all season leads me to believe that it won't come to a crashing halt.  In fact, the Mets might actually not have their annual June swoon next month, especially since most of their injured everyday players could be back by then.

It's not smoke.  It's not mirrors.  It's just a good baseball team finally doing what they were supposed to do when they were put together.

Wilmer Flores' Friends Want Him to Play Every Day

Wilmer Flores' new walk-up music is "I'll Be There For You", the theme to the long-running television show, "Friends".  That story seems to have taken over social media for the past 24 hours.  But the real story should be how Flores is making a push to be in the everyday lineup.

Flores had a fine season at the plate in 2015, collecting 22 doubles, 16 homers and 59 RBI to go with a .263 batting average and .408 slugging percentage.  He also made solid contact, striking out just 63 times in 510 plate appearances.  That made him the eighth-toughest person to strike out in the National League.

However, with the Mets' acquisition of Asdrubal Cabrera and the trade for Neil Walker, Flores was a man without a position at the start of the 2016 campaign, and his performance suffered as a result of his sporadic play.  On the morning of June 24, Flores was batting .226 with a .357 slugging percentage and a .648 OPS.  He had also started just 31 of the team's first 71 games, and most of those starts came as a result of David Wright's annual injury.  But something clicked as the summer got underway, and Flores has been one of the team's most productive hitters since then.

On June 24, Flores began a four-game stretch in which he reached base eight times and drove in four runs.  A week later, he became the second Met in team history to collect six hits in a game.  That Alfonzian effort kicked off an 11-game stretch in which Flores batted .412 with seven homers and 13 RBI.  And Flores hasn't stopped producing.

Since the middle of June, Flores has hit 14 homers and has 42 RBI.  That production has come in a mere 216 plate appearances.  To put that into perspective, that's more pop and run production than Yoenis Céspedes has had in the same time period with a similar number of plate appearances (Céspedes has 11 HR and 28 RBI in 205 PA).  And since June 24, Flores is batting .296 with a .536 slugging percentage and an .880 OPS.  Even more crazy is the fact that Flores has a .264 BABIP since mid-June and he's still become one of the team's top run producers.  Eventually that low BABIP (an average BABIP is around .300) will even itself out, which means the potential to drive in more runs exists for Flores.

One of the reasons why Flores wasn't starting many games early on was his inability to hit right-handed pitching.  He was mashing left-handed pitching to the tune of a .340 batting average but was struggling to get to the Mendoza Line against right-handed pitchers.  But that lack of success against RHP has begun to change.

In today's game against the Reds, Flores had three hits against Cincinnati right-handed starter Robert Stephenson.  This came less than 24 hours after Flores went 2-for-4 versus the Nationals, collecting a double off starting pitcher Reynaldo Lopez and a single off reliever Mat Latos, both of whom are right-handed.  Four days earlier, Flores turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead by clubbing a two-run homer off Marlins starter Jake Esch - also a right-handed pitcher.  The night before that, Flores picked up a double and an RBI single off Miami pitcher Tom Koehler.  And what do you know?  He throws with his right hand as well.

(Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports)

In fact, Flores hasn't had a hit off a southpaw since August 26, when he hit a grand slam against Phillies starter Adam Morgan.  Since that salami, Flores has reached base 13 times (ten hits, three walks) in eight starts.  All 13 times he's gotten on base, a right-handed pitcher was on the mound.

With Neil Walker out for the season, Asdrubal Cabrera playing through an injury and James Loney struggling to the tune of a .174/.195/.187 slash line since August 9, Flores was bound to get more at-bats.  But even without the less-than-100% infield, Flores has 100% earned the opportunity to start every game for the Mets, regardless of whether the pitcher is a lefty or a righty.

His BABIP is low even with the high production.  His inability to hit right-handed pitchers appears to be a thing of the past.  And his teammates are dropping like flies.  The reason to sit Flores is gone.

Wilmer Flores wants everyone to know that his favorite TV show is "Friends".  Flores should know that he has his own friends in Mets fans who feel his bat should be in the lineup every day.  After all, Flores' bat has certainly been there for us since the beginning of summer.

The Reasons For Jeremy Hefner's Marked Improvement

Jeremy Hefner was drafted by the Mets out of high school in the 46th round of the 2004 June amateur draft.  He chose not to sign.  One year later, the Mets selected Hefner in the 48th round of the June amateur draft.  Once again, Hefner did not sign.  Instead, he transferred from small Seminole State College in Oklahoma to the much-larger and more scoutable Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, where he hoped to improve his draft status.  Two years later, the San Diego Padres beat the Mets to the punch by drafting Hefner in the 5th round of the 2007 June amateur draft.

After five years of toiling in the Padres' minor league system, the last three of which were spent at the Triple-A level, San Diego gave up on Hefner, placing him on waivers, where he was claimed by the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Less than four weeks later, the Pirates also waived Hefner.  Six and a half years after the Mets were rejected by Hefner a second time, the third time was the charm, as the Mets finally got their man.

Hefner spent the first few months of 2012 at AAA-Buffalo, where he excelled, going 5-2 with a 2.77 ERA and 1.05 WHIP in 10 appearances (9 starts).  Hefner finally got his first call-up to the major leagues last spring, but was nothing more than a spot starter and long man out of the bullpen.  When the book finally closed on the 2012 season, Hefner had made 13 starts and 13 relief appearances for the Mets.  His numbers at the major league level were not very lucky, or very good, for that matter (4-7, 5.09 ERA, 1.37 WHIP).

Because of Johan Santana's second season-ending surgery in three years, Hefner was given another shot to join the Mets' starting rotation.  But with Zack Wheeler lurking on the blue-and-orange horizon, Hefner's spot as a starter was very much in jeopardy.  Through late May, his numbers were very Hefnerian, for lack of a better term, as the 27-year-old was 1-5 with a 4.74 ERA and 1.30 WHIP when May morphed into June.  But the months weren't the only things that morphed on June 1.  Jeremy Hefner underwent a metamorphosis of his own in June.  And not even Zack Wheeler's presence on the major league roster is going to stop Hefner now.

The Pirates could have traded their bats for planks and still would have had difficulty hitting Jeremy Hefner.

Beginning with his start on June 4, Hefner has gone 3-1 with a 1.76 ERA and 0.98 WHIP in eight starts.  No pitcher in baseball - not even Clayton Kershaw or Matt Harvey - has a lower ERA since the beginning of June.  Hefner has not allowed more than two earned runs in any of those eight starts and has exhibited outstanding control, as evidenced by his 5-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio (40 K, 8 BB) over the six-week stretch.

What has Jeremy Hefner been doing this year that he wasn't doing last year?  And how has he been able to become such a dominant pitcher after an average (at best) start to the 2013 campaign?

Let's look at Hefner's BABIP (batting average on balls in play).  In 2012, his BABIP was an unusually high .323.  That means opposing hitters were getting "lucky" more often than not, finding holes in the infield, flaring balls into the outfield, etc.  Since an average BABIP is around .300, it was reasonable to think that Hefner was just unlucky in 2012.

But looking at his first two months in 2013, Hefner's BABIP had gone down to .272, but he still had an ERA approaching 5.00 and a WHIP of 1.30.  Why would a lower BABIP not produce better results?  The reason is simple.  Home runs are not considered when calculating BABIP, as home runs are balls that go out of play, sometimes very far out of play, and Hefner gave up quite a few in April and May.

Hefner allowed ten home runs in his first 57 innings of 2013, which included a three-start stretch in April in which he allowed multiple home runs in each game (naturally, the Mets lost all three games).  Jeremy Hefner allowed 30 runs in April and May.  Fifteen of those 30 runs came via the long ball.  When half of a pitcher's runs allowed don't figure into the BABIP calculation, that's how that pitcher can have such a high ERA with a low BABIP.

So as long as Hefner could maintain his lower-than-average BABIP, all he had to do was keep the ball in the park and he would surely succeed, right?  All you need to do is look at his home run figures since June 1 to realize that that's exactly the case.

After allowing ten home runs over his first 57 innings this year, Hefner has only allowed five homers in his last 51 innings.  Since his mediocre start, Hefner has actually decreased his BABIP to .247.  Keeping the ball in the park and having hitters hit the ball in the vicinity of a fielder has allowed Hefner to post his league-leading ERA since the beginning of June.  The laws of sabermetrics say that Hefner's BABIP will eventually go back up to around .300.  However, as long as Hefner continues to keep the ball in the park, the damage will be limited once batted balls begin to find holes again.

BABIP isn't the only stat to consider when trying to determine how Jeremy Hefner has shown such improvement.  Hefner has also learned how to pitch better with runners in scoring position, has made great strides in getting the all-important first out of an inning, and is practically unhittable when he needs one out to complete a frame.

This is the face that defeated the dreaded BABIP monster.

In 2012, Hefner allowed opposing batters to hit a whopping .330 (31-for-94) against him with runners in scoring position.  But this year, he has learned how to make better pitches when a runner is within 180 feet of home plate.  In this year's RISP situations, the opposition is hitting a more reasonable .263 (20-for-76) against Hefner.

An old baseball adage says that the most important out for any pitcher is the first out.  In 2012, Jeremy Hefner did not subscribe to that adage, allowing a .321 batting average to hitters with no outs.  Those hitters also had a gaudy .496 slugging percentage against Hefner before the first out was recorded.  It was as if Hefner was facing Albert Pujols (.321 career batting average) or Carlos Beltran (.496 career slugging percentage through 2012) in every no-out situation last year.  Hefner is writing a much different story in no-out situations this year, allowing a .246 batting average and .399 slugging percentage, or numbers that most resemble those posted by Russell Martin in his career (.258 batting average, .398 slugging percentage).

Finally, Jeremy Hefner was just average in 2012 when he needed one out to complete an inning. Opposing batters hit .252 against Hefner in those situations.  This year, Hefner is nearly unhittable in two-out situations, allowing a barely there .145 batting average (18-for-124) when only one more out is needed.  In fact, the slugging percentage against Hefner this season in two-out situations (.250) is lower than the batting average against him in those spots last year.  Talk about being able to finish what he started.

Jeremy Hefner is not the dynamic pitcher Matt Harvey is.  Heck, his name is Hefner and he wasn't even the one who posed nude for ESPN The Magazine.  (Yup, Harvey was the playboy selected for that honor.)  But like Harvey, Hefner has been getting outs recently.  Lots and lots of outs.

On a team that is focusing on its young phenoms (Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler) and looking forward to the arrival of two others in the coming years (Rafael Montero, Noah Syndergaard), it's easy for Jeremy Hefner to get lost in the shuffle.  But over the last month and a half, opposing hitters have been the ones who have looked lost at the plate, just before shuffling their way back to the dugout after making another out.

It doesn't matter how a pitcher gets an out.  They just have to get outs.  And Jeremy Hefner has finally learned how to get them with regularity.  In his third chance with the Mets, the kid from Oklahoma is finally showing that he belongs in the major leagues.


For more on this topic, please read Jeremy Hefner: The Impossible Dream, a post written by Joe D on Mets Merized Online.  And if you haven't done so already, you can follow Mets pitcher Jeremy Hefner (@jeremy_hefner53) on Twitter.
 

Relief Isn't Coming ... And I Don't Think It Should

Much has been said about the Mets' bullpen woes in 2012.  Their 5.53 ERA is the worst in baseball.  So is their 1.56 WHIP.  They also have the most blown saves (13) in the majors.  That's not exactly something to be proud of.  But it's also not something that I feel should be replaced from outside the organization.

I believe the Mets' bullpen will either correct itself or will have new members courtesy of the team's minor league system.  Why do I feel the bullpen can correct itself?  I think the following numbers will answer that question for me.

The starting staff, which has been better than expected, has pitched 366 innings, which is more than twice as many innings as the bullpen has thrown (174).  But only 18 batters have reached on errors while the starting pitcher has been on the mound.  That's an average of one batter reaching via an error every 20.3 innings.  Meanwhile, ten batters have reached base against a reliever because of the Mets' shoddy defense.  That's one extra runner every 17.4 innings, making it all the more difficult for the bullpen to get out of jams their defense caused for them.

Let's also take a look at a category we don't consider much here - BABIP.  An average hitter will have a BABIP (batting average on balls in play) somewhere in the .290 to .310 range.  The starting staff has kept opposing hitters within that range (.294).  However, the BABIP against the bullpen is a whopping .333, well outside the average range.  That suggests that before long, balls put in play against the bullpen will eventually find gloves, not holes.  Of course, if those gloves have holes...

Therefore, what the Mets really need to do is improve their defense, especially in the late innings when the relief corps is called upon to hold onto leads or keep games close.  The Mets can make a trade for an established reliever to help out.  But what good is he going to be if his defense doesn't help him out?  Is he supposed to strike out every batter he faces?

The BABIP suggests the Mets' bullpen will fix itself.  Improved defense will also help them do their jobs.  Don't give up on the bullpen just yet.  They might end up providing relief to themselves without any outside help.

It's A Hard Luck Life (For R.A.)

Quick! Which starting pitcher on the Mets has the lowest ERA? If you said R.A. Dickey, you'd be correct. Now if I asked you which Mets hurler of the starting five has the fewest wins, you probably wouldn't think to say Dickey's name again. But it's true, with a 5-11 record, R.A. Dickey has the fewest wins of the five pitchers in the starting rotation, one less than Mike Pelfrey's six.

R.A. Dickey is this year's hard-luck pitcher on the Mets, the man who pitches well more often than not, yet never seems to get credit for the victory. The Mets are 11-14 in Dickey's 25 starts, including Monday night's extra-inning victory over the Padres. That means the bullpen is more apt to pick up the victory in a Dickey start than Dickey himself. It's enough to make you scratch your head in disbelief.

It's okay, R.A. You may not be getting the wins on your record, but you're a winner to Mets fans.

Dickey is not the only pitcher in the majors to be having trouble earning victories despite pitching relatively well. Fellow National Leaguer Hiroki Kuroda has an 8-14 record, leading the league with his 14 losses. However, he is currently eighth in the NL with a 2.88 ERA. Kuroda has given up three earned runs or less in 19 of his 24 starts, but the Dodgers have managed to lose ten of those 19 quality starts. Incredibly, Los Angeles has scored two runs or less in exactly half of Kuroda's 24 starts, giving the 26-year-old righty little room for error.

In the American League, Doug Fister has pitched relatively well this year, splitting his time between Seattle and Detroit. After 24 starts, Fister's ERA is 3.59 and has never been higher than 3.86 at any point this year. However, Fister's won-loss record (4-13) does not seem right compared to his ERA. Like Kuroda, Fister has been highly effective in most of his starts, allowing two earned runs or less 12 times. Incredibly, his teams have lost seven of those 12 starts. Trading the Pacific Northwest for the Motown Mashers has done little to change Fister's luck, as he gave up two earned runs in his second start for Detroit on August 9, only to get a no-decision in a 3-2 loss to the Indians.

It is not uncommon for a good pitcher to suffer hard times in the won-loss column despite pitching well enough to win most of his games. It's especially not uncommon for Mets pitchers to live the hard-luck life.

In 1978, Craig Swan led the National League with a 2.43 ERA. However, Swan only managed to win nine games in 28 starts (losing six and receiving a no-decision in a whopping 13 starts). In 17 of his 28 starts, Swan left the game with the Mets in the lead (12 times) or tied (5 times). Yet, the bullpen couldn't help Swan out. Neither could his offense, as the Mets scored three runs or less in 16 of his 28 starts.

If Swan's 1978 season was enough to make you shake your head, wait till you hear about Jon Matlack's 1974 season. In that year, Matlack pitched 14 complete games (5th in the NL), threw 265.1 innings (7th), had a 2.41 ERA (3rd), recorded a 1.12 WHIP (3rd), struck out 195 batters (4th) and led the league with seven shutouts. He also made the All-Star team for the first time in his career. Sounds like a Cy Young Award candidate, doesn't it? So how many votes did Matlack receive for the National League Cy Young Award in 1974?

Zero.

Perhaps it was one little stat that caused the voters to look away from Matlack at year's end. You know which one I'm talking about. In 1974, Jon Matlack's won-loss record was 13-15.

Since Matlack threw seven complete game shutouts in '74, that means more than half of his wins came in games in which he allowed no runs in nine innings of work. He basically had to be as close to perfect as possible in order to pick up a win. Of course, with the Mets scoring three runs or less in 19 of his 34 starts, it's no wonder why Matlack finished the season with a losing record.

So that brings us to R.A. Dickey. Why is Dickey allergic to victories despite leading the team in ERA for starting pitchers? It's actually a combination of three things. Dickey is being let down by his offense, the bullpen has been a little shaky, and he's been bitten by the bad luck bug.

In 26 games (25 starts), Dickey has left the game with the lead eight times (including Monday night versus the Padres). The bullpen has blown three of those leads. Dickey has also left four games with the score tied. He received no-decisions in all four starts, as the offense failed to take the lead in the next half-inning every time, thereby denying Dickey the possibility of earning the win. The Mets have also scored three runs or less in more than half of Dickey's appearances (14 times in 26 appearances), making it increasingly difficult for R.A. to chalk up the victory.

Luck also has something to do with it. In 2010, opposing hitters' BABIP (Batting Average on Balls In Play) against Dickey was .280, well below the average number of .300. This year, Dickey's BABIP has risen to .293, which is more in line with the league average. Batters are finding more holes and placing their hits in better spots. It's all about luck with this statistic, and Dickey seems to be having nothing but the bad variety this year.

Sometimes all it takes is a clutch hit here or a solid bullpen performance there for a pitcher to rack up the victories. For R.A. Dickey in 2011, he's receiving none of that help. Baseball is a team sport. It's a shame that the team doesn't usually show up whenever R.A. Dickey is on the mound.