Welcome back to Month in Review, Mets Geek’s analysis of the Mets’ last thirty-one days. You can find our previous installments this year here and here.

April? 14-12. May? 13-15. And the Mets’ record in June? 13-15 again. I find myself reminded of a popular saying about ducks. It’s fitting that the “highlight” of the month was the firing of manager Willie Randolph and two of his coaches during the longest winning “streak” of the month. Team-by-team splits:

Team               W     L    RS    RA
Arizona            1     2    14    17
Colorado           2     1    11    10
Los Angeles (AL)   2     1    15    16
Los Angeles (NL)   1     0     6     1
New York           2     2    20    19
St. Louis          0     1     1     7
San Diego          0     4     9    14
San Francisco      2     1    16    19
Seattle            1     2    10    18
Texas              2     1    18    11

And home/road:

Split         W     L    RS    RA
Home          6     7    53    60
Away          7     8    67    72

Nothing fuzzy here. Even records, more or less, with the run differentials to match. Finally, we have our handy dandy run differential splits:

Split           W     L
1 run           1     6
2-3 runs        7     2
4-5 runs        2     2
6+ runs         3     5

While they balanced it out by getting blown out in a couple, the Mets had a terrible record in one-run games this month. Not sure if it’s worth noting, but there it is.

Comings: Robinson Cancel (6/4), Abraham Nunez (6/5), Chris Aguila (6/11), Robinson Cancel (6/13), Trot Nixon (6/15), Carlos Muniz (6/24), Andy Phillips (6/25)

Goings: Carlos Muniz (6/3), Nick Evans (6/5), Robinson Cancel (6/7), Raul Casanova (6/10), Abraham Nunez (6/11), Chris Aguila (6/15), Claudio Vargas (6/24), Robinson Cancel (6/25)

Wow. Robinson Cancel really got some frequent flier miles this month. Official Comings and Goings Man of the Year standings:

Carlos Muniz           5
Robinson Cancel        5
Raul Casanova          3

Injuries: Ryan Church, Moises Alou, Trot Nixon

Moises Alou injured? Unheard of.

Our offense and pitching splits:

Stat                            May     June
Runs Scored:                    140      120
Runs Allowed:                   136      132

Team OBA:                      .327     .325
Team SLG:                      .424     .378
Team BA with RISP:             .279     .224
Opponents’ OBA:                .333     .343
Opponents’ SLG:                .399     .397
Opponents’ BA with RISP:       .277     .296

Starters’ ERA:                 4.76     4.22
Starters’ K/9:                  6.4      7.2
Starters’ BB/9:                 4.0      3.6
Starters’ HR/9:                1.18     0.78

Relievers’ ERA:                4.04     4.43
Relievers’ K/9:                 8.0      7.0
Relievers’ BB/9:                3.2      3.5
Relievers’ HR/9:               0.66     1.31

While the starters improved, the bullpen took a big step backward, and the offense looked abysmal most of the time. A .378 slugging percentage and a .224 batting average with runners in scoring position? Really?

Stat                            May     June
OBA vs. RH Pitchers:           .323     .323
SLG vs. RH Pitchers:           .417     .388
OBA vs. LH Pitchers:           .338     .331
SLG vs. LH Pitchers:           .444     .345

RH Opp. OBA:                   .316     .335
RH Opp. SLG:                   .395     .405
LH Opp. OBA:                   .355     .354
LH Opp. SLG:                   .404     .384

The lineup had been doing a good job against southpaws, but that sure wasn’t the case this month.

Longest Winning Streak: 2 (4 times; 6/3-6/4, 6/15-6/16, 6/18-6/20, 6/25-6/27)

Longest Losing Streak: 5 (6/5-6/10)

Yeah, that’s right. The Mets couldn’t win three games in a row even once.

Pitchers “Beaten”: (Not necessarily the pitcher who took the loss) Hiroki Kuroda, Barry Zito, Matt Cain, Brandon Webb, Scott Feldman, Kason Gabbard, Jered Weaver, Jon Garland, Aaron Cook, Greg Reynolds, Miguel Batista, Dan Giese, Darrell Rasner

Pitchers “Beaten by”: (Again, not necessarily the pitcher who got the win) Jonathan Sanchez, Josh Banks, Randy Wolf, Cha Seung Baek, Wilfredo Ledezma, Micah Owings, Dan Haren, Kevin Millwood, John Lackey, Ubaldo Jimenez, Felix Hernandez, R.A. Dickey, Sidney Ponson, Andy Pettitte, Kyle Lohse

Best Hitter: Carlos Beltran had a very good June, hitting .286/.380/.543 with four steals. Jose Reyes was also great (.305/.364/.476, 11 steals). May winner: David Wright

Worst Hitter: Luis Castillo followed up a great May with a terrible June. He hit .239/.330/.250 with four steals in five opportunities. The on-base percentage wasn’t bad, but it was the lowest among the regulars other than Delgado, and he sure didn’t make up for it in slugging (.250 mark). May winner: Damion Easley and Endy Chavez

Best Pitcher: It didn’t seem like a great month for Johan Santana, who went just 1-4, but he threw 39 2/3 innings over six starts, had a 2.27 ERA, and struck out 38, while walking just 15. Most importantly, he allowed only two homeruns all month. Mike Pelfrey also fared well. May winner: Scott Schoeneweis

Worst Pitcher: Pedro Martinez’s return from the disabled list hasn’t gone too well as yet. In June, he went 2-2 with a 6.67 ERA over five starts and 27 innings. The good news is that the peripherals, other than strikeouts, which were average, weren’t bad. May winner: Nelson Figueroa

Best Pitching Performance: Mike Pelfrey’s start against the Diamondbacks at Shea on June 11th. He threw eight shutout innings before being taken out in the ninth inning with no out and a runner on first. Billy Wagner proceeded to blow the game, and I proceeded to sit in the stands holding my head in my hands. May winner: John Maine

Best Defensive Play: I’ll say Fernando Tatis’s diving catch in left on June 14th against Texas. There were a number of fine defensive plays in the outfield last month, but I’ll go with Tatis who was sort of playing out of position. May winner: Carlos Delgado

Biggest Surprise: Aaron Heilman. After looking terrible over the first two months of the season, Heilman was lights out in June, pitching 14 innings of one-run baseball. He allowed just 11 hits, walked four, struck out 14, and didn’t give up a long ball. Damion Easley and Mike Pelfrey also qualify here. May winner: Scott Schoeneweis

Biggest Disappointment: David Wright was a non-factor for most of the month. He led the team in RBIs, but that was by virtue of having more opportunities than anyone else. He slugged just .413 over the month. Pedro was also a big disappointment, obviously, but it might be reasonable to expect a slow return from his injury, so I’ll stick with Wright. May winner: Oliver Perez

What’s in Store for July?

The Mets will probably have an easier schedule this month than last. There won’t be any crazy traveling arrangements at least. After finishing in St. Louis, the Mets will travel to Philadelphia before returning home to host the San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies. After that is the All-Star break, followed by a quick trip to Cincinnati to face the Reds. After that, they return to Shea to play the Phillies and Cardinals again before closing out the month with a trip to Florida.

It will help if the bullpen rebounds, particularly Scott Schoeneweis and Billy Wagner, who were both key cogs early in the season. It’ll also be nice if they could get Moises Alou back for more than a single game and if David Wright could start driving the ball again. They should perform better this month; the travel is less demanding, and they’ll have a break in the middle of the month for the All-Star game. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

References

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

You can see Tatis’s diving catch at Mets.com’s Top Plays archive.