Schwei: Battling For The Batting Title

By John Schweibacher
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With less than a month to go in the season, Jose Reyes is battling Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers for the National League batting title.

No Mets player has ever won a batting crown, but six times in club history a Met hitter has finished among the top five in the N.L. in hitting. Here are the Mets hitters who came the closest to leading the National League in batting average:

• 1998 - John Olerud - .354 - 2nd
• 1998 - Mike Piazza - .328 - 4th
• 1996 - Lance Johnson - .333 - 4th
• 1990 - Dave Magadan - .328 - 3rd
• 1986 - Keith Hernandez - .310 - 5th
• 1969 - Cleon Jones - .340 - 3rd

Miguel Batista made his Mets' debut last week, picking up his 100th career win with a 7-5 victory over the Marlins. Batista became the 19th player age 40 or older to appear in a game for the Mets. Only five players 40 or older played for the Mets from 1962 through 1993, with the remaining 14, 40-plus Mets all playing for the club since 1999.

Here is a list of the oldest players to appear in a game in a Mets uniform, with their ages at the time of their last games with the Mets:

• Julio Franco 48 years, 10 months & 15 days
• Warren Spahn 44 years, 2 months & 18 days
• John Franco 44 years & 17 days
• Willie Mays 42 years, 5 months & 11 days
• Orlando Hernandez 41 years, 11 months & 20 days
• Moises Alou 41 years, 11 months & 8 days
• Roberto Hernandez 41 years, 11 months & 7 days
• Rusty Staub 41 years, 6 months & 6 days
• Tom Glavine 41 years, 6 months & 6 days
• Rickey Henderson 41 years, 4 months & 19 days

The Mets road trip concludes with three games against the Marlins in Florida and then it's back to Citi Field for a make-up doubleheader with the Atlanta Braves and a weekend series against the Chicago Cubs.

This will be the Mets final visit to the Marlins home now known as Sun Life Stadium. Next season, the club will be re-named the Miami Marlins and move into a new ballpark located at the former site of the Orange Bowl.

The Mets have gone 72 and 71 all-time against the Marlins in Florida. Here are some of the Mets all-time leaders in various categories at what will become the Marlins former home:

Batting:

• Games Jose Reyes 58
• Runs -sJose Reyes 43
• Hits - David Wright 72
• HR's - Carlos Beltran 11
• RBI - Carlos Beltran 42
• AVG - Paul Lo Duca .397

Pitching:

• Games - Aaron Heilman 21
• Innings - Tom Glavine 55.2
• Wins - Al Leiter 5
• K's - Pedro Martinez 49
• ERA - Johan Santana 0.86
• SHO - Pat Misch 1

The Mets host the Chicago Cubs this weekend. The Cubs took two of three from the Mets back in May when the two teams played at Wrigley Field. The Mets have won five of the seven games played against the Cubs in the first two seasons at Citi Field.

The Mets did not hit a home run at Citi Field during their last homestand but came away with five wins in the six games. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last time the Mets went homerless on a homestand of at least six games was back in 1995.
The Mets went 6 and 0 on that homestand from September 25th through October 1st as they closed out the season schedule without hitting a longball.

Josh Stinson and Daniel Herrera both made their Mets' debuts this past Friday night in Washington. The Mets have already had two games this season in which three pitchers made their first appearances with the
club:

• April 1st: Blaine Boyer, Pedro Beato and Taylor Buchholz.
• April 3rd: Chris Capuano, Tim Byrdak and D.J. Carrasco.

Washington Nationals pitcher Tom Milone homered on the first pitch he saw as a major league hitter in Saturday night's Mets' loss at Nationals Park. Milone became the 3rd player to hit a home run in his first major league at bat in a game against the Mets:

• 9/8/98 Marlon Anderson at PHI against Mel Rojas
• 6/4/00 Esteban Yan TB @ Shea against Bobby
• 9/3/11 Tom Milone at WAS against Dillon Gee

Schwei's Runs, Hits and Errors:

Runs: Manny Acosta. Mets reliever has not allowed a run in 24 of his last 28 outings, giving up just four earned runs in his last 28 & 2/3 innings.

Hits: Cleaning Up. David Wright's numbers as a cleanup hitter in 2011: 18 games, 31-for-70 (.443) with three homers and 19 RBI's.

Errors: Jason Bay. Home run Saturday night in Washington ended his 0-for-35 skid on road, the longest by a position player in club history.