The 'Ropolitans

I was gearing up for a lengthy post on how the Mets have turned it around since Jerry Manuel took the helm and how well the players have been playing in July.

Unfortunately (or probably fortunately), Eric Grissom over at Phillies Flow has beaten me to it.

Here's an excerpt of the article, titles "Men on fire":

Overall, the difference between the Manuel and non-Manuel pitching numbers is far more dramatic than the difference between the Manuel and non-Manuel hitting numbers. The Mets are scoring about 4.96 runs per game since he took over compared to about 4.80 per game before he took over, but the difference between the pitching numbers is much larger. After allowing about 4.67 runs per game before Manuel took over, the Mets have allowed about 3.81 runs per game since.

There's some great statistical breakdowns of the starters in July and the runs scored / runs against breakdown between the two months of June and July.

The Mets have been the team that we thought they could be, finally. Mike Pelfrey has blossomed into a wonderful pitcher, Johan Santana has plugged away at his consistently wonderful pace, and Olvier Perez has switched his mechanics and seen great results.

The bats are back too, as Carlos Delgado is getting on track (maybe), Jose Reyes is on an absolute tear after getting off to a slow start, and Damion Easley is filling in admirably at second base.

The All Star break couldn't come at a worse time for the hot Mets, but hopefully it will carry over into the second "half," down the stretch, and beyond.

Great stuff, Eric. Truly worth a read.