Being 4-8 without being swept in a season is bad. It means the Mets have lost 2 out of every three games four times this season. Generally those numbers suggest that this team is following apart.
However it doesn't feel like that.
The reason the Mets seem to be a better team than their record lets on is because they are. Look at the losses. The Mets have lost 8 games by a combined 19 runs, or 2.375 runs. Now remove that 8 run loss from Colorado. The Mets have now lost 7 games by 11 runs, or 1.57 runs a game. These scores are so close because the Mets are not giving up. When you look at games, the Mets are hanging in there until the end. If they are not scoring, they at least have runners on. With the exception of a few, and I mean few, occasions, the pen the has been strong and has kept the Mets in games as well, something has been different than in the past.
Lets look at Mets wins. They have won 4 games by a combined 18 runs which means they are winning by 4.5 runs on average. Normally when a team is winning by a lot of runs, but losing by a few, it is the pen's fault. However, in the majority of the losses, the Mets starting pitching put the Mets bats in a hole to climb out of. In the last week we have seen the starting pitching starting to turn around. If the starters completely turn around, and parts of the Mets lineup get out of this slump, the numbers presented here suggest that the eventually the Mets will be winning more games.
