I Had To Turn It Off When

So what gives with David Wright's lack of home run power this year? In his first four full seasons with the Mets, Wright hit 27, 26, 30 and 33 homers. This year he is on pace to hit, well, 10 homers. We have heard all the excuses from the "talking parrots" on TV and radio. Citi Field is just a flat-out tough park to hit home runs; he is dropping his back shoulder and is not able to drive the ball; there is no protection in the line-up; he is tired; he is trying to do too much with all the injuries the Mets have suffered and he is not getting any pitches to hit are some of the excuses making the rounds. The only one I haven't heard yet is that he cut himself shaving and this has affected his swing in some way.

What usually accompanies a precipitous drop in a hitter's power is talk of possible PED (Performance Enhancing Drugs) usage that has been stopped, but nobody - and I mean nobody - has even entertained the thought of this being the reason for Wright's power outage. We hear the same, tired excuses that don't seem to make sense. Citi Field? Visiting teams appear to have no problem hitting the ball over the fence at the new ballpark. Tired? Wright has played no less than 154 games in his four full-time seasons in which he averaged 29 dingers. Protection in the line-up? Well, last time I checked, Ryan Ludwick (12 HR, .242 avg 44 RBI) was "protecting" Albert Pujols and his 31 homers in the Cardinals line-up. Is he dropping his back shoulder? Perhaps. Isn't that what hitting coach, Howard Johnson, is supposed to be figuring out? Is he trying to do too much because the core of the Mets team is on the DL? Maybe, but only Wright knows that deep down.

That leaves us with my favorite excuse from the "talking parrots" and that is that he is NOT getting good pitches to hit. Can someone please explain to me how someone who was hitting in the neighborhood of .360 just a few short weeks ago and is now "down" to .325 is NOT getting pitches to hit? Analyst Rick Sutcliffe was doing his weekly spot on the Brandon Tierney show on ESPN Radio when he mentioned that people should focus more on the Mets pitching staff than Wright's hitting as the real culprit for the Mets nosedive. Naturally, he mentioned a few reasons why Wright might be struggling with his power. Not getting enough good pitches to hit was one of his excuses for Wright. Again, I ask how a player hitting .325 isn't getting enough good pitches to hit?

Now, I have absolutely no proof that Wright was ever on the "juice," ever thought about taking it or ever daydreamed about what it might do for him. And we all know that he, along with Derek Jeter, have two of the cleanest images around. But when all of the other excuses don't make any sense, shouldn't it at least be in the discussion?