newjerseynewsroom.com

BY FRANK VERDE

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

FRANKIE SAYS

Johan Santana’s 1-0 victory over the Braves on Opening Day was perfectly scripted: Five scoreless innings from the Mets’ returning ace and four shutout frames from their new and improved bullpen.

Tuesday night’s 6-2 loss to the Nationals finally revealed the other side of the Mets, the one that strikes fear in most Mets fans. (Currently Mets are mid-8th inning down by 3) Shoddy defense, poor relief, and an inability to mount any offense against Washington’s No. 5 starter, Ross Detwiler.

Somewhere there’s got to be a middle ground, but it’s apparent that New York may never find it if injuries and illness continue to chip away at such a razor-thin roster.

It was announced Tuesday that David Wright had broken a bone in the pinky of his right hand while diving back to first base Monday night. He couldn’t grip a bat Tuesday and was held out of the lineup. Surgery is not expected, but he will be out indefinitely.

In his absence, Daniel Murphy – who had found a home in the No. 2 slot in the lineup – was moved into Wright’s third spot and Ronny Cedeno batted second while playing third base.

The struggling Ike Davis, who struck out as a pinch hitter, is now 0-for-16 to start the season. It’s suspected that Davis has a latent case of valley fever, a fungal infection that is prevalent in people from the Southwest.

Andres Torres landed on the disabled list with a calf injury on Opening Day.

Jason Bay is off to another slow start, beginning the season 3-for-16 while hitting fifth in the lineup.

Even with all their troubles, the Mets are still off to a 4-1 start this season.

A large portion of the credit for the quick start goes to the pitching, especially the bullpen because it was so unexpected.

Frank Francisco and Jon Rauch were signed as free agents in the offseason and Ramon Ramirez was acquired from the Giants in the Torres-Angel Pagan deal. Francisco is three-for-three in save opportunities, Rauch has allowed one walk, no hits, in four innings, and Ramirez has not been scored upon in his two appearances.

Tim Byrdak, the lefty specialist who was perfect in his first two appearances, is one of the holdovers from last year’s squad. He’s joined by Bobby Parnell, Miguel Batista and Manny Acosta.

Here’s the good news/bad news scenario for the Mets in 2012. (I always take the bad news first.)

The defense, with Murphy at second and Duda in right field, will rear its ugly head from time to time, as it did last night when Murphy muffed a double-play opportunity that would have ended an inning and Duda didn’t catch a fly ball that most major-league outfielders would put away with little trouble.

But the Mets can’t afford to have either bat out of the lineup, so manager Terry Collins will have to live with the ugliness.

An even messier problem that could bite the Mets this year is the club’s lack of depth. When you slash 50 million from the payroll, there’s bound to be a drop-off in bench talent. New York would not be able to sustain any prolonged absence by either Wright or Davis from the lineup. The Mets are already facing an untenable situation with the fading Bay as their No. 5 hitter.

The good news is that the starting pitching has the potential to be better than average, but only if Mike Pelfrey can contribute something to the party. And I’ve seen enough of Pelfrey to feel uncomfortable whenever relying on him. If one of the starters goes down, who enters the rotation? Do the Mets dip into the farm system and call up Matt Harvey, their top pitching prospect?

The real test will be managing this bullpen, which – on paper – doesn’t inspire much confidence. Fortunately for Mets fans, baseball games aren’t played on paper and the bullpen has been pretty good so far. If Francisco and Rauch continue to perform better than their past performances indicate, and the middle relievers hold their own, they’ll be all right.

But that’s a lot of ifs. Trouble is just around the corner if either Francisco or Rauch is sidelined for any length of time. I get the impression that this is a pretty fragile pen, one that works best when relievers know their roles and aren’t asked to be interchangeable.

Fortunately for the Mets, there doesn’t appear to be any super powers in the National League East. Anyone who still believes the Phillies will run away with the division hasn’t been paying attention. Even the best starting pitchers need some runs to work with.

The Marlins and manager Ozzie Guillen have their own problems, both on the field and off.

The Nationals are much improved, but they seem like a year or two away yet.

The Braves are bound to get better, but Atlanta appears destined to finish near the bottom of the standings.

As for the Mets, they send a healthy Johan Santana out to the mound today to face the Nationals’ young ace, Stephen Strasburg, at Citi Field. They’re 4-1 and sit atop the NL East. All talk about shoddy defense and a razor-thin roster can be put aside at least temporarily. It’s spring and the sun is shining in Flushing. What more can a Mets fan ask for?

See more of Frank Verde’s sports blogs at www.frankverde.blogspot.com