WRIGHT THE SHIP
Mets captain slumping at worst possible time
David Wright waited nine years to get back into the playoffs.
Heading into Game 1 of the NLCS on Saturday night at Citi Field, his return to the playoffs had not gone well.
After a crucial tworun single to lead the Mets to a win in the opener of the NLDS against the Dodgers, Wright didn’t get a hit the rest of the series.
Manager Terry Collins said Wright’s back feels OK, even if the numbers aren’t there.
“He’s fine,” Collins said of the spinal stenosis that sidelined the third baseman from April to August. “If there [were physical] issues, he would say something. We’ve had the discussion way too many times that you can’t let this affect the rest of the team if your back is bothering you, and it’s not.”
Instead, hitting coach Kevin Long pointed to Wright’s timing being a bit off.
“He’s just a little late,” Long said. “He needs to be more ready to hit the fastball. It’s nothing more than that.”
Perhaps the lone positive sign coming out of the series was the fact Wright walked five times.
“His approach has been all right,” Long said. “He had some walks. His strike zone discipline is about normal. [Curtis] Granderson, [Daniel] Murphy and Wright had the exact same number of chases [out of the strike zone]. He just needs be ready to hit his pitch. He needs to be more ready to hit.”
And Collins pointed to some of the pitchers who put Wright into his slump.
“There [are] a lot of guys who don’t have good numbers against [Clayton] Kershaw and [Zack] Greinke, so we’ll just continue,” Collins said. “As I’ve said before, after a day off, this guy can bounce back, so hopefully he bounces back.”
The 1for16 against the Dodgers were the worst numbers Wright put up in three career postseason series.
But he also went into Saturday with just two extra base hits since Sept. 23 and finished the regular season with nine hitless atbats, whiffing seven times.
“He’s not swinging real good,” Collins said. “The one hit he got was a big hit, but we could use some more of them.”
The Mets are looking for him to find the rhythm he had in midSeptember, when he went 16for45 with six doubles, two home runs, seven walks and nine RBIs over a 12game stretch. It lifted his season OPS to .847, but he looked far different over the last two weeks, despite the team’s success.