The Mets’ offense as a whole has been struggling to produce runs all season.They are 27th in the league with 276 runs scored through 77 games, 19th in the league in home runs at 65, and 29th in the league in batting average at .235. But lately, Curtis Granderson has been giving this beleaguered offense a shot in the arm. Granderson is currently on an eight-game hitting streak, and has been a welcomed presence at the top of the order. He has struck out only three times during this streak and is obviously seeing the ball quite well right now. After swinging a hot bat throughout June, Granderson has forged to the team lead in the home run standings, at 13. Unfortunately for the Mets, most of the homers have come without anyone on base because of Granderson’s position in the lineup, but manager Terry Collins has been hesitant to move Granderson because of his reliability at the leadoff spot. Granderson started off slow in April again this year, batting .231 with just one home run, but he did walk 16 times. Still, this was better than the .145 Granderson batted in April of last season.
In the month of June Granderson is batting .303 with seven home runs, with five of those occurring during this recent hit streak. He has also walked 12 times in June, demonstrating the patience required by a leadoff hitter to try and get on base, even when behind in the count. Amazingly, Granderson has been able to work out nine walks this year after being down in the count, 0-2. Granderson has been able to take advantage of the limited opportunities where there are runners in scoring position; he’s hitting .289 with two homers and 16 RBIs (with 13 walks) in that situation this year. In the last week,Granderson has been a menacing presence in the batter’s box, going .458 with four homers, six RBIs and five walks. He torched Reds pitching in the Mets’ recently concluded series with Cincinnati, accruing six hits (two home runs) in 13 ABs to go along with three walks. And while many Mets have been getting injured around him, Granderson has managed to stay healthy, starting a team-leading 70 games.
One area where Granderson still has to improve though is ABs vs. lefties. In 47 tries,Granderson is batting a paltry .128 against southpaws with only one home run and two walks, and he’s struck out 19 times. Hot streaks come and go all the time in baseball, but right now Granderson is a joy to watch for Mets fans. He has played a major role in the Mets breaking out of a seven-game losing streak, as they have won four straight games heading into Tuesday night’s contest with the Cubs.
Curtis Granderson coming on strong for Mets
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