[JimMorrison]

We continue with our four games series against the Dodgers after losing both games in our doubleheader Sunday. Hoping for one win here to give us something.

NYM 0 LAD 5

NYM 3 LAD 1

In the third game, Don Drysdale pitched a complete game shutout allowing only six hits and our lineup could not do anything here. Three homers that drove in five runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth was enough for LA to take their third in a row but luckily we found a way back in the last game. Don Larsen pitched his best game as a Met in this game, going eight innings of one run ball. Back to back RBI singles from Morgan and Banks got us the 2-0 lead that we never gave up and we win this one close 3-1. Not happy to lose three of four but the Dodgers are on another level and I know that we have a long way to go before we can really compete with them.

St Louis Cardinals (15-26) vs New York Mets (19-24) - May 24-26, 1963

This will be the first time seeing these Cardinals since we opened the season beating them in both games at the Polo Grounds. The Cardinals really struggled in April, going 5-14 and they looked like one of the worst teams in baseball. May has been a lot kinder (10-12 in May) but they still sit in ninth in the NL above the lowly Colt 45’s. The pitching has been really solid actually for them as they rank third in the NL in starter and bullpen ERA, but the lineup has struggled immensely. 1B Bill White is the only starter who’s been hitting well (.288 AVG, 119 OPS+) and the rest of the lineup looks lethargic at best. I am hoping for a big series here to help bring us back from some tough losses as of late.

STL 9 NYM 8 (11)

STL 3 NYM 1

Sunday doubleheader...

STL 7 NYM 3

STL 3 NYM 4

Man, I got nothing to say... I don't know why I’ve been expecting a decent season, if we can’t beat a struggling Cardinals team here, I think it’s going to truly be a longer season than I realized.

Thoughts: A disastrous 2-4 week has really sunk our chances of a .500 season and maybe being a somewhat decent team. We were 18-18 on May 15th and since then we’ve been 2-9.

Our offense has been pretty bad as Frank Thomas, Banks and Alou have all been struggling at the plate here in this eleven game slump. The only consistent hitter who actually seems to oddly be getting better is Joe Morgan who has been better than advertised as a 19-year-old.

I don’t really know what to do at shortstop either moving forward. Eli Chacon, my starter last year and coming into this year, has been terrible offensively and while his defense hasn’t been as negative as it was last year, it’s still not good for such a vital position. Orlando McFarlane who we got in the rule 5 as a backup infielder has been even worse too so there’s really no great option we can use right now at short and I need to find a better option this offseason or at the deadline!

The rotation has been pretty lackluster too as the Luis Arroyo starter experiment is starting to backfire fast. In Arroyo’s last three starts he’s given up 13 runs and his ERA jumped from 3.19 to 4.53. Even Ray Washburn, who I thought would be reliable, has been pretty bad and is sitting at a 4.38 ERA in a very pitcher friendly league. I complain about the offense but they are really just middle of the road, 5th in runs scored, 5th in OPS. It’s the pitching that has sunk this team and we are going to need another makeover once we get to the end of the season as this just has not looked like a remotely viable group of pitchers.

We continue our homestand next week against the Chicago Cubs for three games and then we end the week hosting the Pittsburgh Pirates for four more games. If we come out of these games with another two win week, I think we are officially in big trouble!