Worth noting: Prior to the season, the Mets did not fancy themselves as a running club and have spent most of the year at the bottom of the Florida State League in stolen bases. But that thinking has apparently changed since fleet-footed outfielder Kyle Johnson joined St. Lucie from Savannah earlier this month. The Mets still rank last in the FSL with just 47 steals, but entered play Monday only three behind Clearwater and Lakeland (50) to move out of the cellar.
Johnson has certainly sparked the club’s newfound success on the base paths. The 23-year-old has recorded seven steals in as many chances, and swiped two bases in two separate games last week. In just 11 games with the Mets, he is just one steal shy of matching the team lead held by shortstop Matt Reynolds, who has eight in 85 games. Johnson is also riding a five-game hitting streak to contribute to a .375 batting average and .480 on-base percentage.
Surging in the batter’s box: Second baseman T.J. Rivera. Outfielder Dustin Lawley has seemingly made a habit of filling this spot lately, but Rivera continued his torrid play in July with another stellar week. Rivera collected eight hits in five games last week, including two doubles, to help extend his hitting streak to 13 consecutive games. He is hitting .309 during his recent surge to lift his overall batting average to .279 on the season. The Bronx native is still searching for his first home run of the year, however.
Surging on the mound: Starter Alex Panteliodis. Looks like Panteliodis has corrected the issue that may have been hindering him at the end of June. After permitting 12 runs in his final two starts last month, the left-hander has yielded just three runs in three outings (19.1 innings) this month to shave his ERA to 3.72 on the season. He is currently boasting a scoreless streak of 16.1 innings and holding opponents to a .236 batting average in July.
Number to remember: 14. Mother Nature has not been kind to the Mets this season. The club has dealt with constant delays during games and several postponements due to inclement weather on a regular basis since the calendar flipped to May. The latest instance came Monday when the second outing of a four-game series at Daytona was postponed because of rain. The move, which came after the two teams waited through a rain delay of more than two hours the previous day, represented the14th time a Mets game has been either postponed, suspended or canceled this season. The contest is scheduled to be made up as part of a doubleheader Tuesday.
As I mentioned in a previous post, Kyle Johnson has been very impressive since joining St Lucie. His speed has given St Lucie a threat that it has not had since Alonso Harris left for Binghamton. It was also great timing for him to arrive in PSL when he did as St Lucie is now trying to make a run during the 2nd half of the season to make the playoffs. The rain has been like a headache that will not go away, someone mentioned to me yesterday that it has now rained 36 days in a row!