MET NOTES
SAN DIEGO – Cliff Floyd’s streak of hot and cold months this season looks as if it’s continuing.
Entering last night, Floyd was having a strong August, hitting .409 (9-for-22) with two homers and seven RBIs. Granted, that has only been six games, but the pattern has fallen in line with his on-then-off months in 2005.
In April, Floyd hit .366 with 21 RBIs. In May, he dropped to .202 and 12 RBIs. Then in June, Floyd hit .323 with 20 RBIs before falling off to .244 and 11 RBIs in July. If this keeps up, Floyd might not enjoy September much.
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Steve Trachsel’s next and perhaps final rehab start is scheduled for tomorrow night for Triple-A Norfolk. Trachsel, who’s been out all year with a herniated disc, has already made four rehab starts combined in Double-A and Single-A and has posted a 2.41 ERA in 18.2 innings.
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Though Tuesday’s start marked Pedro Martinez’ worst game of the season, the Met ace didn’t believe he needed to make any radical alterations before his next outing on Sunday against the Dodgers.
“No, I just go and do the same thing and throw a little bit on the side because I was hanging my pitches,” Martinez said. “Need to look at the video, see what I did and just work on the pitches I hung [on Tuesday].”
Martinez gave up five runs in five innings, the first time this season he had not thrown at least six frames.
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With a bleeder or an infield hit on Tuesday night, Jose Reyes could have surpassed Floyd for the longest Met hitting streak of the season. But Reyes took an 0-for-4 against the Padres, ending his 20-game hitting streak and leaving him knotted with Floyd’s 20-game mark.
“It’s OK,” Reyes said of the deadlock.
Probably that’s because, while Reyes’ streak is over, he certainly had an outstanding run while it went on. In the 20 games, Reyes batted .374 (34-for-91), scored 19 runs and stole 11 bases.
The hitting didn’t exactly hurt Reyes’ defense, either. Entering last night, he hadn’t committed an error since July 8, a span of 26 games.