Duda searches for answers
Clamoring for that contract extension for Lucas Duda has quieted considerably. With each strikeout, each failed opportunity with men on base, it seems the patient Mets made the prudent choice by waiting.
They probably wish that wasn’t the case.
“It’s a pretty prolonged stretch for me, just because I’m not doing the things I’m capable of,” the slugging first baseman said after the Mets were swept by the Cubs at Citi Field.
Duda continued to look lost at the plate during Thursday’s 61 loss, striking out twice in three hitless atbats — his batting average plummeting to .253. Five weeks ago, he was hitting .305. His OPS is now at .792, after sitting in the .800’s for so long. Since June 16, Duda is a gruesome 8for56 with four RBIs.
“I just continue to work hard, prepare myself like I always do,” he said. “Go out and try to have fun. Hopefully it will start going our way.”
Duda has followed up a dreadful June — he hit a woeful .187 with just one homer and a .576 OPS — with no hits in eight atbats and six strikeouts to begin July.
Michael Cuddyer’s strained left knee still bothered him Thursday, and while he remains hopeful he won’t land on the disabled list, Terry Collins indicated it’s not out of the question if there’s no improvement when the Mets get to Los Angeles Friday.
“After three days, if that [cortisone] shot hasn’t taken effect, we may need to look at it again,” Collins said. “[His status] hasn’t changed because it hasn’t been 48 hours since he got the shot, but we’ll certainly need to revisit it [Friday].”
Cuddyer preferred to wait to see if Wednesday’s cortisone shot helps before weighing the odds of a DL stint.
“It’s slowly progressing,” said Cuddyer, who underwent treatment during Thursday’s 61 loss to the Cubs at Citi Field. “[The DL] is not something that’s on my mind because it hasn’t gotten to that point. If it gets to the point where the doctors said the medicine should have taken effect and it’s still bad, then eventually I’ll be a little more concerned.”
Eric Campbell played left field and went 0for3, and Darrell Ceciliani went 0for4 while in center.
For all Cuddyer’s recent struggles at the plate, his absence didn’t make Collins’ attempt to shuffle the lineup after backtoback shutouts easier.
“We’ve got enough guys struggling,” Collins said. “We’ve only got three extra players. You can’t change it a lot.”
So that left Curtis Granderson in the leadoff spot, with Ceciliani moving up to second and Daniel Murphy and Duda switching spots at third and cleanup.
“There weren’t a lot of changes I could make,” Collins said.
It showed, as the Mets were held to one run or less for the 21st time this season.
While they aren’t spending much money on actual major leaguers, the Mets did dip into their wallet for some international players Thursday.
They agreed to a $1.2 million signing bonus with Venezuelan shortstop Andres Gimenez and a $1.5 million signing bonus with Dominican Republic shortstop Gregory Guerrero. Both players are 16 years old. … Adrian Abreu, a catcher with ClassA Savannah, was hit with an 80game suspension Thursday after testing positive for metabolites of Stanozolol, a banned performance enhancing drug.