New York Mets: The Defense Must Improve If the Mets Are to Remain in Contention

To this point in the season, not many fans would be disappointed with the 31-25 record of the New York Mets.

Games like tonight, however, make it extremely difficult to imagine that the plethora of young players on the roster will mature rapidly enough to mitigate the many mental and physical errors.

The defensive goat of the night will be Jordany Valdespin for his two costly misplayed ground balls in the 10th inning, which turned the tide of the game.

Other plays such as the muffed doubleplay attempts by Daniel Murphy and Ike Davis will not show up in the box score, but they were costly as well. 

Valdespin's miscues came with a much bigger consequence.

The first ground ball, off the bat of Ryan Zimmerman, was as routine as it gets. For a rookie shortstop in a big spot, however, routine tends to be much more difficult than a diving play in the hole. 

That changed the complexion of the inning.

Bobby Parnell did a tremendous job of remaining poised—which had been his Achilles heel in previous years—and continuing to execute quality pitches.

After Ike Davis botched a potential double play which would have mitigated the leadoff error, Parnell was still in position to end the game until Valdespin fumbled a sure double-play ball.

Now, physical errors are a part of the game of baseball. The best teams in the league are going to make 50 errors per season, but for a team that is offensively challenged to begin with, it would behoove the Mets to convert as many batted balls as possible into outs.

At this point in time, the Mets have committed 42 errors—sixth most in the Major Leagues.

Obviously, the Mets' defense will receive a significant boost upon the arrival of Ruben Tejada. Valdespin is clearly not a big league caliber short stop. 

Unfortunately for the Mets, Tejada's return will be delayed further, as he exited his rehab assignment with tightness in his leg as Adam Rubin of ESPN New York first reported.

The back-up shortstop, Ronny Cedeno, is also injured. That is another significant hit for the Mets who benefited from Cedeno's steady defense during his limited stint as a starter.

Omar Quintanilla has struggled mightily as well, with three errors in the past two games.

Surprisingly, the outfield defense has been pretty stellar. Entering the season, it appeared to be a weak link with the presence of Jason Bay and Lucas Duda patrolling the gaps of Citi Field.

Terry Collins has obviously done a terrific job of making the Mets overachieve to this point. He has treated the young players as men, and for the most part, has gotten the best from the young position players like Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Josh Thole and Lucas Duda.

The Mets have a glaring weakness in their infield defense, however, and the NL East is way too talented to throw away games on the road by suspect defense.

They will need these young players to excel in the areas of the game that they can control; defense and small ball.

David Wright, Scott Hairston, RA Dickey and Johan Santana can only do so much before the Mets are undermined by lackluster performances from other members of the team.