Here for your perusal, some of my favorite Mets stats from the first month of the 2012 season.
.818 - that's the Mets win percentage in 1 and 2 run games as they went 9 and 2. The Mets were 4-7 in such games last April.
818 will also be the number of Tums consumed by Terry Collins if the Mets continue to play half their games in the 1 to 2 run range.
16 - that's the number of walks David Wright had in April. That's good for 4th in the NL and a major component of his NL leading .494 OBP. There's something about April that makes Wright a patient man. His 125 walks in April are 30 more than his next closest month.
85 - that's the number of walks the Mets drew in April, the same number as last year, but in 4 fewer games. Their team OBP of .341 is way up from last April's .317. The Mets lead MLB in pitches per AB and were the only NL team with 4 players in the top 25 in that category. Their patience resulted in baseball's 5th best OBP in April.
9 - the number of times Kirk Nieuwenhuis has made me pump my fist in excitement so far. Wether it be diving catches or timely hits, Captain Kirk has been a revelation. I saw him play in AA a few years ago knowing that he was a top prospect. I remember leaving that day being underwhelmed. While Nieuwenhuis did lead the team with 25 strikeouts in April, he is a pretty disciplined hitter. He hit .333 out of the leadoff spot and was 4-6 with 4 rbi in late inning/pressure situations. Plus, it's always good to have an outfielder with long hair. It makes the running, diving catches look cooler.
.714 - the Mets winning percentage since Jason Bay got hurt. I like Jayson as a guy. He hustles and he cares, something we all want out of ball players and waiters, but his .071 batting average with RISP isn't getting it done. So far the waiters at the Acela club have brought more to the table than Jason.
24 - Surprisingly that’s the number of plate appearances for Justin Turner so far this season, including just 3 in the last week of April (highlighted by the magnificent walk against Heath Bell.) Given his ability to hit in the clutch (35-100 with RISP last season) I expected Turner to be a bigger piece of the puzzle. Despite having the most memorable at bat of the month, Turner has been the forgotten man.
.184 - that's what opponents hit off Johan Santana in April, which includes the 4-9 the Braves went off him when he only lasted an inning a third. Take that game out of the equation and opponents just hit .153 off Santana. Bonus notes: Santana fell behind 3-0 on a hitter just once in April. He also recorded 52 swings and misses and his 29 K's were his 5th best in his 10 full Aprils. Johan's efforts have been more encouraging than a 3rd grade art teacher.
1 - is the number of times Keith Hernandez thought April was the month in a leap year with the extra day. He's not the best color man in the league for nothing, folks!
6 - The Reyes/Pagan Effect. 6 is the number of stolen bases for the Mets in April. Down 15 from a year ago. It's the fewest number of stolen bases by the Mets since they had 2 in 1995, a year in which they only played 5 April games because of a work stoppage. Stolen bases don't equal wins, but the threat of the stolen base certainly effects games. It will be interesting to see the impact their lack of a running game has the rest of the way.
9 - the number of errors committed by Josh Thole and Daniel Murphy. Three of Thole's four errors are catcher's interference calls. Five errors by Murph is about what you would expect, and he's even made a handful of Web Gems. Given that the Mets made 6 of their 21 errors in one game, the fielding has been pretty good.
3.28 - that's the Mets era at home in April. So far, moving the fences in at Citi hasn't been a huge deal. Now, we'll have to see what happens when the weather warms up, but it's been a good start so far. The Mets April era last year (without Santana) at Citi Field was 4.46. In 2010 it was 2.68 and 3.75 in 2009. Mets HR's allowed at Citi in April (2012-2009) have been 10, 12, 6 and 12, respectively.
7.5 - that's my enjoyment level on a scale of 1-10 for this team so far. They seem to like each other and play hard every day. All I ask of a team is that they be competitively competent. Losses are going to happen, just don't beat yourself and don't get blown out every day. So far this Mets team has shown they can hang with anyone.
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