The Mets are versatile

Marty Noble at Mets.com writes about a couple of the Mets offensive strengths:

The Mets lead the National League in stolen bases by a comfortable margin. When they engaged the Phillies on Thursday afternoon, they had stolen 115 bases, and no other National League team had stolen 100. That said, the Mets hardly have been dependent on their speed.

They also ranked fourth in the league in home runs through Wednesday, and that after the most significant summer brownout not blamed on Con Edison. Their only home runs in the first three games of the series here had been hit Tuesday night by one man, Jose Reyes. Indeed, the Mets' power game had hit a wall following Carlos Beltran's one-man power surge in Atlanta from July 28-30.

They hit 28 home runs in 17 games through the sweep of the Braves, with Beltran responsible for four in the final two games. Beginning with the subsequent game on Aug. 1 and through the Phillies' 3-0 shutout on Wednesday, the Mets had hit merely nine home runs in 15 games -- five by Reyes and on each by Beltran, Paul Lo Duca, Michael Tucker and Jose Valentin.