Month in Review is MetsGeek’s monthly state of the Mets address, examining every aspect of the team’s performance over the last thirty days. You may find our previous installments from this season here: April, May, June, and July.

In July, the Mets endured their second straight losing month, going 13-14. August went a little better, as the team went 15-13 over a busy thirty-one days. Actually, the Mets were having a very good month (14-9) until the Great Philadelphia Massacre of 2007 set them back considerably, shrinking their lead in the NL East from six games to two.

Here’s their team-by-team records for August:

Team               W     L    RS    RA
Atlanta            2     2    20    18
Chicago            2     1    16    11
Florida            1     2    18    15
Los Angeles        2     1    11    11
Milwaukee          2     0    20     9
Philadelphia       0     4    16    27
Pittsburgh         2     1    22    22
San Diego          1     2    20    22
Washington         3     0    21     8

Home/road:

Split         W     L    RS    RA
Home          5     7    69    66
Away         10     6    95    77

Mets played much, much better on the road this month, save for that one series. Remove that series, and the Mets are 10-2 with a run differential of 89-50. It helps that their other road opponents were Milwaukee, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Washington, and Atlanta. That said, it is nice to see the Mets outscore their opponents in a losing effort at Shea.

Split           W     L
1 run           4     5
2-3 runs        4     4
4-5 runs        3     3
6+ runs         4     1

The difference this month was the four blowouts over the Brewers, Marlins, Nationals, and Braves. Other than those four games (plus the Phillies’ blowout over the Mets), the Mets were a game under .500.

Comings: Brian Lawrence, Mike DiFelice, Sandy Alomar Jr., Anderson Hernandez, Jeff Conine

Goings: Mike DiFelice, David Newhan, Anderson Hernandez, Sandy Alomar Jr., Brian Lawrence

Injuries: Damion Easley, Paul Lo Duca, Ramon Castro

Stat                           July   August
Runs Scored:                    118      164
Runs Allowed:                   133      143
Team OBA:                      .325     .366
Team SLG:                      .413     .447
Team BA with RISP:             .283     .309
Opponents’ OBA:                .328     .359
Opponents’ SLG:                .411     .456
Opponents’ BA with RISP:       .293     .272
Starters’ ERA:                 5.02     4.95
Starters’ K/9:                  6.8      7.7
Starters’ BB/9:                 3.7      3.9
Starters’ HR/9:                1.40     1.29
Relievers’ ERA:                3.59     4.89
Relievers’ K/9:                 6.6      6.5
Relievers’ BB/9:                3.2      3.1
Relievers’ HR/9:               0.72     0.71

Yes, the offense came alive in August. Unfortunately, the pitching staff went into a coma. While the Mets bats had a .813 OPS, their opponents were just as good at .815. The Mets outscored their opposition solely because they performed better in the clutch, with a batting average in scoring position over 20 points higher. The good news is that the starting pitchers did better peripheral-wise, and the relievers—who had their first truly bad month—didn’t perform any worse than they did in July by the same measures. Still, it’ll be better if the bullpen remembers how to strike out batters again; it’s the difference between its performance at the start of the year and its current state.

Longest Winning Streak: 4 (8/17-8/21)

Longest Losing Streak: 5 (8/26-8/30)

Pitchers “Beaten”: (Not necessarily the pitcher who took the loss) Claudio Vargas, Chris Capuano, Carlos Zambrano, Jason Marquis, John Smoltz, Rick Vanden Hurk, Ian Snell, Matt Morris, Matt Chico, John Lannan, Shawn Hill, Chris Young, Brad Penny, Eric Stults, Tim Hudson

Pitchers “Beaten by”: (Again, not necessarily the pitcher who got the win) Ted Lilly, Buddy Carlyle, Tim Hudson, Daniel Barone, Scott Olsen, Tony Armas, Jake Peavy, Justin Germano, David Wells, J.D. Durbin, Adam Eaton, Jamie Moyer, Kyle Lohse

The Mets beat Penny, Young, Hudson, Smoltz, Zambrano, and Snell, a collection of fine pitchers. Unfortunately, they also lost to Olsen, Armas, Germano, Wells, Durbin, Eaton, and Lohse, who aren’t.

Best Hitter: David Wright is awesome. In August, he hit .394/.516/.657. That’s right his on-base percentage was .517. That’s a Bondsian performance, right there. I’m beginning to hear an MVP buzz, similar to Ryan Howard’s last year when he put together an outstanding late-season performance. July winner: Carlos Delgado

Worst Hitter: No one had a bad month. The two candidates here are Carlos Delgado and Luis Castillo. Castillo hit .281/.343/.333, while Delgado hit .253/.347/.425. Neither one was awful. The answer’s probably Delgado, even though he ultimately hit better, since he plays first base. You just expect your first baseman to hit a little better than league average, which isn’t true of your second baseman. July winner: Paul Lo Duca

Best Pitcher: Tom Glavine was easily the Mets’ best pitcher in August. He went 2-0 with a 3.13 ERA. Yeah, he only struck out 14 batters in 31.6 innings, but he only walked six and didn’t allow a homerun, which is a real accomplishment on this homer-happy staff; all other starters allowed at least 1.4 per nine innings. In the bullpen, both Jorge Sosa and Aaron Heilman had solid months. July winner: John Maine

Worst Pitcher: Is John Maine lucky that Brian Lawrence was around in August, or what? Maine had a terrible month, going 2-3 with a 6.32 ERA, but Lawrence was just as bad at 1-2, 6.31. In the end, I picked Lawrence thanks to an inferior strikeout rate and fewer innings pitched. Billy Wagner and Guillermo Mota both had unsatisfactory months, too. July winner: Jorge Sosa

Best Pitching Performance: John Maine had a terrible month, but he redeemed himself on its last day. He went seven strong innings and allowed just one on three hits and three walks while striking out eight. The most important part: it was an absolute must-win situation against Tim Hudson and the Braves, ending a five-game losing streak. July winner: John Maine

Best Defensive Play: It’s a tough call, but I’ll give it to Jose Reyes’s and Luis Castillo’s double play on a hard-hit ball up the middle from Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman on the 17th. It was a nice grab by Reyes, but Castillo’s pivot, which I can only describe as “spearing,” was a sight to behold. Wright’s barehanding of a ball off Oliver Perez’s glove on the 24th was pretty damn good, too. July winner: Carlos Beltran

Biggest Surprise: Jorge Sosa. After Sosa bombed in the starting , he pitched 18 great innings in relief. July winner: Ruben Gotay

Biggest Disappointment: It’s tough to call anyone who stole 23 bases in 26 attempts a disappointment, but Jose Reyes has been steadily fading, causing some to wonder whether he needs a rest. He only hit .272/.341/.392 in August, which isn’t bad, but it’s not close to the level he had been performing at earlier in the season. He hasn’t really been the MVP candidate some of us (including me) envisioned. July winner: Pedro Feliciano

What’s in Store for September: The Mets start out the month on the road, completing their series in Atlanta before heading to Cincinnati. Then, they return home for a long homestand against the Astros, Braves, and Phillies. The Mets will have an opportunity to put the unofficial nails in the coffins for their NL East competitors right then and there before the faithful. After that, the Mets hit Washington and Florida for seven games before returning to Shea for their last seven games of the season. They’ll play three against the Nationals, a makeup game against the Cardinals, and three against the Marlins.

Over the next month, there are a couple of things to watch for. First off, the team needs to secure their spot in the playoffs. Provided they don’t completely fall apart (again) when they play the Phillies and Braves, that shouldn’t bee too hard. Second, they need to preserve their starting players. Reyes, as I mentioned, has looked fatigued, and it’s in their best interest to rest Carlos Beltran, Moises Alou, and David Wright more frequently, too. Injuries to key players before the playoffs are not something you want to see. Finally, they need to sort out their bullpen. Willie Randolph needs to understand who’s to be trusted and who belongs in what role before October actually starts, which doesn’t seem very clear yet. At least not to me.

References:
Stats are courtesy of David Pinto’s Day-by-Day Database and the Hardball Times, as always.

You can view Beltran’s catch at Mets.com’s Top Plays archive.