The Mets Fan
Pete King – Congressman from Long Island – Raised in Queens, went to high school and college in Brooklyn and then Law School at Notre Dame.
How You Became A Mets Fan
I was a fanatical Brooklyn Dodgers fan and saw the Mets as the successor to the Dodgers.
Favorite Mets Player
Favorite Moment in Mets History
1969 World Series Victory
Message to Mets Fans
We never give up. The Mets represent tough, hard-working, blue collar New York.
Due to a family event, I was unable to use the Mets tickets I had originally purchased for the game. Considering it was me who scheduled the family event, it was REALLY poor planning on my part, except for one thing . . . .
With the exception of one of my uncles, an uncle who harbors no ill-will towards the National League team, we are all Mets fans.
We are all split on football and hockey. Generally speaking, we all prefer NCAA basketball to the NBA, with us each having our own colleges we support.
Despite the many differences we have as a family, it is our being Mets fans that bind us. Perhaps more than the blood itself.
So, when you have a group of us together, if there is a television around, any and all family occasions will eventually turn into us sitting there watching and rooting for the Mets. Yesterday was no exception.
We talked about what a great and underrated pickup Todd Frazier was when he delivered an RBI single in the first.
While we all agreed we loved Mickey Callaway, we loudly wondered what the (blank) he was thinking pinch hitting for Tomas Nido with an open base and Thor on deck.
This led to a discussion as to what exactly the Mets should be doing about the cdatching situation. Some wanted J.T. Realmuto. Others, myself included, wanted the Mets to go with the catcher who would get the most out of this pitching staff. Regardless, we all debated what the Marlins would want for Realmuto presuming the discussions would start with Justin Dunn and Peter Alonso.
We marveled at just how dominant Noah Syndergaard was with him finally returning to form early this season with his striking out 11. We also groaned in that sixth inning when the Brewers plated two unearned runs on an Amed Rosario throwing error.
My family had smiles bigger than the one on Brandon Nimmo‘s face when he hit a game tying homer in the bottom of that inning. All right, almost as big a smile.
We got nervous and held on for dear life as AJ Ramos had one of those heart in your throat innings, and he was not helped by Jose Lobaton. To a man, we agreed wild pitch or not, your catcher has to get that. Regardless, Ramos got out of the inning with some help from Jerry Blevins.
Surprisingly, no one seemed that nervous about Hansel Robles anymore. Sure, he may not have been everyone’s first choice, but there was a calm believing he could get the job done. For Robles, that must’ve been a different feeling from past years.
And in my family, we are smart baseball fans, so there was no waiting for Jeurys Familia to lose the game in the ninth. We’re better than that, and with his stretch, I hope all Mets fans are getting to that point as well.
Finally, like Citi Field and wherever you were, we cheered and celebrated when Wilmer Flores hit the walk off homer.
Did I get to go to the Mets game yesterday? No, I didn’t. However, one of the reasons we go to games is to sit in the stands and have a shared experience. Considering I watched yesterday with my family, and it was bitterly cold yesterday, I think watching it from an Italian restaurant a state away was probably a much better experience.
The next experience will hopefully be the group of us at Citi Field as we look to recreate one of our old traditions. Hope to see you all there.
Game Notes: Wilmer’s second career walk-off happened against the very same Brewers team he was supposed to be traded to back in 2015.
Lost in the Mets terrific start to the season has been the fact the Mets family has been hit by some tragedy. There was the death of Rusty Staub, and the first Mets player inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame, Bud Harrelson, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
This leaves many of us wondering what we could do to help not just Bud, but also the many who are affected by Alzheimer’s. Even if you don’t have the means to make a contribution, there is something you can do – Subscribe to and watch Carl Ruiz’s YouTube channel entitled OMG Carl’s Food Show.
Thanks to all of you. My Reviews have raised 1200 bucks so far for @alzassociation ! ???? please subscribe to my channel! Let’s keep this going!https://t.co/6bqsyZbxmB. pic.twitter.com/FbHwtkRt2k
— Carl Ruiz (@carlruiz) March 28, 2018
Personally, I have come to know Carl not just from having gone to Marie’s (before it was made famous), but also because of his radio work with Opie and because of his dominance on Guy’s Grocery Games (GGG).
Like many, myself included, Carl’s family has been affected by Alzheimer’s. Sadly, he would lose his father to the disease. If you watch GGG or follow him on Twitter, you know he has decided to take action by raising money for the Alzheimer’s Association. To help him in this endeavor, all you have to do is watch one of his reviews of famous chain restaurants.
So far, he has reviewed Arby’s, Chick-fil-A, Cracker Barrel breakfast, Five Guys, McDonalds, Olive Garden, Outback, Subway, Taco Bell naked taco, Waffle House, and Wendy’s.
While you may not always agree with what he says, like McDonald’s French Fries falling just below the mark of being dubbed “Beyond Reproach,” he was spot on with his analysis of Chick-fil-A waffle fries. Honestly, his review of that renewed my faith in the human race after The Ringer‘s embarrassing venture into this field.
Overall, if you want to be entertained by a great chef giving an honest and interesting review of fast food, you should check out the videos. If not, do it to help those suffering from Alzheimers.
Ever see the movie Pleasantville? Well, there was one scene after Tobey Maguire’s character showed up in the town and started changing everything:
Gus: Have they ever lost before?
George: Basketball? No, they sure haven’t.
Gust: Just feels wrong. That’s all.
Ralph: Maybe that’s where they get the saying, “can’t win ’em all.”
Gus: Yeah, that’s a good point, Ralph. They do have that saying.
Bob: But they do win ’em all, Gus. They’ve always won ’em all.
With the exception of one game against the Cardinals during the first homestand of the season, it really came to feel as if the Mets did win ’em all, and that something would be quite off if the Mets ever did lose a game.
Well, today was the day the Mets finally lost a game.
Sure, there were a number of things to which you could overreact. For the second straight start, Matt Harvey wasn’t great, his ERA jumped up to 4.80, and for the third straight start, he failed to pitch into the sixth inning.
However, it should be noted three of the four runs scored off of Harvey were the result of a home run that is almost never hit at Citi Field. With an apparent jet stream to left field in the second inning, Jonathan Villar hit a three run homer that shocked everyone, the booth included with Keith Hernandez not able to get over how that ball many believed would be short and out of play cleared the former Great Wall of Flushing.
The Brewers took advantage of the wind again in the fourth with Jett Bandy hitting a homer to left. That one was not really a surprise it went out.
While this was happening Brewers starter Chase Anderson n0-hit the Mets for the first 4.2 innings until Amed Rosario broke it up with a single up the middle. With Adrian Gonzalez walking in front of him, that set up runners at first and second with two outs, but Jose Lobaton would be unable to deliver an RBI.
The Mets really didn’t get anything going until the sixth on a rally started when Anderson hit Michael Conforto with a pitch. He moved to second on an Asdrubal Cabrera fielder’s choice, and he scored on a Yoenis Cespedes RBI single.
Considering how the Mets have been going this season, that was usually the time the team took off and started putting up crooked numbers. Not tonight as Anderson got Jay Bruce to strike out.
The Mets kept within shouting distance at 4-1 due to the terrific work of Paul Sewald out of the Mets bullpen. The seldom used Sewald came on in substitute of Harvey in the sixth inning, and he reeled off three perfect innings with five strikeouts.
Sewald was really the highlight of the night. The Mets needed someone to give them length out of the pen, and he was the guy. For those shocked it was Jacob Rhame and not him sent down, Sewald reminded everyone just how good he is, and why he stayed up with the ballclub.
Even with the score 4-1, the Mets just couldn’t get out of their own way. For example, Todd Frazier hit a one out single in the seventh only for Amed Rosario to ground into an inning ending 6-4-3 double play. It was one of two double plays the Mets hit into which killed off rallies.
More than the double plays or anything else, the Mets just ran into great pitching today. Anderson shut them down, and Josh Hader came out of the bullpen and dazzled pitching two perfect innings with five strikeouts to record his first career save.
There’s really no other way to put it than the Mets flat out got beat. While it is something that really hasn’t happened this year, it does happen. In fact, it’s going to happen many times to the Mets because that’s what happens over the course of a 162 schedule. It’s just time to regroup and take the series tomorrow with Noah Syndergaard on the mound.
Game Notes: Entering the night, the Mets were 10 games over .500 at 11-1. This is the third time in club history they have been 10 games over .500 in April with 1986 and 2015 being the others.
In 2015, the Mets started out on the road, and they came home with a 2-3 record. Things would change quickly at home with the team reeling off 11 straight wins to improve their record to 13-3.
During that stretch, when the Mets had “only” five wins in a row, the team would have their first Friday evening game of the year. The fans responded to the palpable buzz surrounding the team in their first home stand by packing it in for that Friday night game. In total, there would be 38.753 fans at the game.
In 2016, the Mets would have World Series dreams after they had fallen just short to the Kansas City Royals last season. With the team opening the season on the road against the Royals, and Noah Syndergaard winning the second game featuring a mid 90s slider, the buzz for the team grew louder.
The first Friday game as a day game, and it was the home opener. With Jacob deGrom on the mound, there would be 44,099 fans in the stands. By the time the team’s first Friday night game rolled around, it was three weeks later, and the Mets were 14-7. With Steven Matz on the mound, there was 39,764 fans in the stands to watch the Mets take on the San Francisco Giants.
Last year, the Mets once again entered the season with World Series hopes and dreams. The team would open the season at home and were 2-1 heading into their first Friday night game of the season. In Zack Wheeler‘s return after two seasons on the disabled list, there would only be 27,891 fans at the game.
This year, the Mets have looked as good as they ever have. After an impressive 4-1 homestand to start the season, they went out and swept their first two series on the road to bring the Mets record to 10-1.
With a buzz surrounding this team, the Mets came home last night to their first Friday night game of the season. The fans responded to the Mets terrific play packing in Citi Field with 34,921 fans at the ballpark creating a great environment.
Mickey Callaway on the 34,921 strong at Citi Field: "It was electric. They help you. Our fans help us win. In big situations … the fans are our 10th man and they were electric tonight. It was so good to see everybody showing up. That's what makes this worth it." #Mets
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) April 14, 2018
Was the crowd as big as Friday night crowds in year’s back? No, but it was a good sized crowd who created a buzz in the ballpark. Ultimately, that’s a great job by Mets fans, who have once again proven just what a great fan base we all are. Seeing what last night’s crowd was, I can only imagine the crowds will only get bigger this weekend.
Lets Go Mets!
Coming into today’s game against the Brewers, the Mets had lost more catchers (Travis d’Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki) than they had games on the season. One of the reasons why that was the case was this Mets team has gotten contributions from almost everyone on the team and each night presents a new hero.
Early on, that hero was Todd Frazier. Up until today, he had been homerless in a Mets uniform. That changed rather quickly when he hit a homer off Brewers starter Zach Davies to give the Mets a 2-0 lead.
The Mets first run came in the first when Yoenis Cespedes followed an Asdrubal Cabrera one out double in the first inning.
After cruising through the first three innings where just about Lorenzo Cain being the only Brewer to challenge him in any way, Steven Matz would have a tough fourth inning allowing a double to Jesus Aguilar and a homer to Hernan Perez in consecutive at-bats tying the game at 2-2.
Of course, much in the same way the Mets have done all season, they immediately responded. This time the response came in the form of Frazier hitting his second home run of the day. That gave the Mets a 3-2 lead which would expand in the fifth inning.
The inning began with Michael Conforto drawing a lead-off walk against Davies and a Cabrera single. After Davies struck out Cespedes, Craig Counsell went to the lefty Dan Jennings to face Jay Bruce and Adrian Gonzalez.
The move was completely ineffective as Bruce hit an RBI double to score Conforto, and Gonzalez brought Cabrera home with a sacrifice fly. Apparently not having done enough damage to the Brewers’ chances of winning, Jennings threw a wild pitch allowing Bruce to score from third giving the Mets a 6-2 lead.
With the Mets having a lead and winning streak like this, it appeared the Brewers were going to have to be unconventional to try to beat the Mets. In retrospect, they probably want to take back challenging Cespedes in the field:
This glove's for you. pic.twitter.com/cOtQvplxk5
— New York Mets (@Mets) April 14, 2018
Cespedes gunning people on the run now pic.twitter.com/M03iORizI4
â Starting 9 (@Starting9) April 14, 2018
Hyperbole aside, with Matz cruising and the way the Mets bullpen has been pitching of late, this game seemed like a lock for the Mets. As we would soon see in the sixth inning, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
The inning started when Bruce dropped a Domingo Santana fly ball. The Brewers immediately capitalized with a Ryan Braun two run homer to pull them within 6-4.
After striking out Travis Shaw, the book on Matz was done. He would be in line for the win after striking out five allowing four runs (three earned) on three hits and two walks in 5.1 innings. With Seth Lugo coming in, it seemed like this game was a lock. Instead, the Mets would find themselves hanging on to try to capture the victory.
Lugo was immediately met with back-t0-back singles by Aguilar and Perez. Lugo would get out of the inning after inducing Orlando Arcia to ground into the 5-4-3 inning ending double play.
Lugo would be bailed out a bit again in the seventh. After Cain reached on a single, he thought he would challenge Cespedes on a Santana single. Cespedes nailed the speedy Cain to help snuff out that rally.
Even with Lugo not being himself, Mickey Callaway sent him back out for the eighth. Finally, the Mets got burned as Shaw hit a solo homer to pull the Brewers within one run. After an Aguilar single, Callaway was not about to let this one get away.
Callaway pulled out all the stops to make sure this one didn’t get away. First, it was AJ Ramos to get Perez to fly out. Then it was Jerry Blevins to face Eric Sogard. After Sogard singled, Robert Gsellman came on to get Jett Bandy to get out of the inning.
The only thing left was for Jeurys Familia to come on in the ninth and get his Major League leading seventh save of the season. Familia did that with a rare and much needed 1-2-3 inning to get the Mets to 11-1.
So far, the Mets have won games a number of ways during this nine game winning streak. The handing on for dear life win we saw tonight was a different one than the other wins we have seen the Mets amass this season. It’s just more evidence that no matter what happens this team will find a way to win.
Game Notes: Since joining the majors in 2012, Cespedes has a MLB leading 65 outfield assists. Mets became the first New York team to start the season 11-1 since the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers. Before the game, Jacob Rhame was sent down to Triple-A, and d’Arnaud, who elected to have Tommy John surgery, was put on the 60 day disabled list. Brandon Nimmo and Jose Lobaton were called up in their stead. Lobaton tripled in his first at-bat as a Met.
Thursday, April 11th will forever be a landmark date in Mets history, and it is not just because Mickey Callaway‘s Mets started the year with a franchise best 10-1 record or because the Mets swept their first two road series for the first time in their histry. No, it is because the Mets Five Aces, Flamethrower Five, or whatever you want to call them finally pitched one time through the rotation.
There were many stops and starts since 2015, but it finally happened. Overall, there have been 18 Mets pitchers who have made a start for the Mets (will be 19 when Jason Vargas comes off the Disabled List) since the start of the 2015 season. This includes the Five Aces. Can you name all 18 pitchers? Good luck!
Bartolo Colon Jacob deGrom Matt Harvey Noah Syndergaard Zack Wheeler Steven Matz Seth Lugo Robert Gsellman Jon Niese Dillon Gee Rafael Montero Chris Flexen Sean Gilmartin Logan Verrett Gabriel Ynoa Tommy Milone Tyler Pill Adam Wilk
Look, it is only April, and Bryce Harper has been an absolute monster this season, but with the Washington Nationals losing 5-1 to the Colorado Rockies today, they are now a game under .500 at 6-7, which is something they last did in 2015.
We can pinpoint various excuses why this has happened. Daniel Murphy has started the year on the disabled list, and Adam Eaton, who had a great start to the season, also landed on the disabled list.
They also ran into a buzz-saw with the Mets pulling out all the stops to sweep them at home, and their loss today was against a Rockies team who was in the postseason last year.
Bring up all the caveats you want, they still have had six games against the Braves and three against the Reds. With those teams, they had enough to build a real cushion because that’s what good teams do – they beat up on the lesser teams. Instead, they split the two series they have played against the Braves.
That right there is why the Nationals are under .500. Depending on how this series goes against the Rockies, their set in Flushing, and then a West Coast trip facing off against the Dodgers and Giants before coming home to face the Diamondbacks, this Nationals team MAY be in a little trouble. They COULD be in a lot of trouble.
The Nationals don’t have Dusty Baker as the manager anymore. Yes, Dusty had his faults. However, he knew how to navigate his team through this. Remember, the Nationals fell apart in 2015 under the weak leadership of Matt Williams, and Dusty came in the following year and rescued that team. We don’t know if Dave Martinez has that in him to get the Nationals to turn things around against what is going to be a tough early season schedule.
If the Nationals cannot figure things out, they are going to dig themselves an early season hole, which may be too deep to climb, at least as the NL East is concerned.
Overall, the Nationals are vulnerable right now. Perhaps, they are more vulnerable than anyone could have predicted heading into this season.
Ultimately, this means the Mets have a chance right now to put some real distance between themselves and the Nationals. If they put up enough distance, the Nationals may be fighting for one of the two Wild Cards and not for the division.
As the old adage goes, you cannot win the division in April, but you sure can lose it. If the Mets do their job, they can help ensure the Nationals will lose the division in April.
One of the things that has made the GKR era of Mets broadcasts truly enjoyable is what Keith Hernandez has brought to the table. His sheer honesty, and his ability to make the occasional gauche comment makes even blowout Mets losses worth watching. Really, Mets fans cannot get enough of Keith Hernandez.
And in many ways, we want to see and hear what he is like when the cameras aren’t on. We did get a small glimpse of that the day SNY came back on the air earlier than the booth expected, and we all reveled in Keith’s comment that National’s starter Tanner Roark had been “getting his tits lit.” That and other Keith Hernandez moments made him the Mets personality most fans wanted to get a twitter account.
Well, it has finally happened to the great joy of Mets fans everywhere. In this week’s version of the Mets Blogger Roundtable, we react to Keith’s Twitter account:
Michael Baron (MLB)
Obviously, for us its very entertaining and its a great way for us to engage with someone we all admire. But for him, its an excellent opportunity for him to enhance his own personal and professional brand, which is both colorful and eccentric and allows us to see a different angle of Keith many don’t know and don’t get to see.
Roger Cormier (Good Fundies)
I have yet to feel “excitement.” Keith even tagged me in a response to someone else, yet all I feel is impending doom (more so than usual). My podcast partner perfectly described this situation as all too similar to the once beloved Milkshake Duck’s. Keith has already mistakenly tweeted out his phone number, before somewhat adorably thanking the first person to point this out and asking how to delete the picture. He has also yet to change the lowercase ‘k’ to an uppercase ‘k’ for his first name in his twitter bio. Even with 280 characters, nuanced thoughts can be expressed very poorly and problematically by the savviest of internet folk, so Keith tweeting something considered to be of poor taste is pretty much inevitable. But for now, yes, he’s showing *clears throat* good twitter fundamentals.
Michael Ganci (Daily Stache)
Having Keith officially join Twitter is akin to walking down the steps and seeing the presents on Christmas morning. You can see from his brief experience, his account oozes with his personality, and I for one, have set mobile alerts for when he Tweets. Why is he simply the most entertaining guy on Twitter? Simple. He’s Keith Hernandez.
Mark Healey (Gotham Baseball)
I don’t get too excited about celebrity Twitter accounts, but he seems to be actively using it himself, so that’s pretty cool.
Joe Marcic (Loud Egg)
Greg Prince (Faith and Fear in Flushing)
It feels as if a Rubicon has been crossed. All those fleeting thoughts of “what would Keith Hernandez be like on Twitter?” have come to “oh, so that’s how it is.” He’s Keith Hernandez.
A part of me was hoping he’d stay Tweetless, as if to maintain the mystique. I felt that way about R.A. Dickey, too, but R.A. was engaging and complex in any medium. Same for Keith.
I wonder if early in a previous century there was this much speculation over how so-and-so would come across over the phone. One more device by which to communicate is what it boils down to.
James Schapiro (Shea Bridge Report)
By far the best part of having Keith on twitter will be getting more of Keith, plain and simple. Keith already doesn’t work every game, and it’s noticeable when he’s not there. Gary and Ron are just a bit too grounded and serious when there’s no Mex between them. Even when Keith isn’t working games now, we’ll be able to get inside his head, and, of course, it’s rightfully easy to read his tweets in your head in a perfect Keith tone. Just because he’s not actually saying the words out loud doesn’t mean you can’t hear Keith’s implicit superiority to the guys on the field today, or the strangely emphasized words (Brou-HA-haa). Having Keith on twitter is our chance to hear from Keith far more often. And I don’t think there’s any need to be more specific: Keith on twitter means more Keith, and that’s something that all Mets fans should cherish.
Mets Daddy
What fascinates me with Keith’s Twitter account, and maybe it shouldn’t, is how right from jump street, he has already mastered how a celebrity should use a Twitter account. He provides the voyeurism aspect like his tweeting out pictures of him having dinner with his daughter and her friend.
He gives us a sense that he’s just like us in how he tweets out silly picture of himself (his profile picture is him wearing a mustachioed poop emoji), he uses the occasional toon response in a tweet, or how he adores his now famous cat Hadji.
He also replies to Mets fans just enough to keep them hanging on his every word, and he is not afraid to call someone out for being an idiot.
And like with his Zack Wheeler comments, we get to see Keith not just as contemplative and not reactionary (as comes with the job) when something happens during a Mets game. More to the point, it shows just how closely Keith does pay attention to the team even when he is not actually working the game.
Lastly, Keith has mastered the job of advertising the Keith Hernandez Shop and his upcoming book, which may have been impetus for firing up the Twitter account all along.
On the other hand, maybe we shouldn’t be surprised by this. During the telecasts, Keith has shown himself to be far more than comic relief. He’s an intelligent and pensive man, who in many ways, is a modern Renaissance man. Keith was a great baseball player, has had great cameos (everyone overlooks his Mr. Baseball cameo), and he has been great in both the booth and the studio. Personally, I’m looking to see what a man with varied interests like Keith Hernandez has tweets during the offseason.
While Keith has only recently been on twitter this group of Mets bloggers have long had twitter accounts which we all use to promote our own writings and thoughts about the Mets. While you are checking in on Keith’s tweets and the things he is selling, I encourage you to check in on the excellent things this group of writers is writing about this amazingly 10-1 Mets team.
Well, isn’t this just the Mets luck? On a day when Mets fans and the entire organization all were celebrating the Five Aces finally making one turn through the rotation, pitching would be the story of the game. The story wasn’t Zack Wheeler, who had the best start by a Mets pitcher this season. No, initially the story would be Marlins rookie Jarlin Garcia would no-hit the Mets through the first six innings of the game.
In his Major League debut, Garcia stared down the entire Mets lineup, and he didn’t allow anything except two ill-timed sixth inning walks and Todd Frazier reaching on an error. Even the walks didn’t hurt him as Jay Bruce would get thrown out trying to steal third.
Naturally, when you have a no-hitter going, you know you are out-pitching the opposing pitcher. What was surprising was it was not by much.
After making one start in Triple-A to hone his mechanics, Wheeler was great tonight. He would become the first Mets pitcher to pitch into the seventh inning. The knock on Wheeler was always his walking too many people and not being able to put batters away. Tonight, he struck out seven while only walking one.
While Garcia allowed no hits, Wheeler would allow just two. Unfortuantely, one of those was a Miguel Rojas home run.
With the Mets getting no-hit until Frazier had a single off of Marlins reliever Drew Steckenrider, you would think the Mets lost this game. Yeah, that wasn’t happening to the 9-1 Mets.
Before the game, it was announced Travis d’Arnaud needed to go on the disabled list with a torn UCL. Naturally, this meant Kevin Plawecki would get plunked on his catching hand by a 100 MPH from Marlins reliever Tayron Guerrero.
Plawecki stayed in the game, and Michael Conforto, who did not start against the left-handed Garcia, came on to pinch hit for Juan Lagares. The Marlins countered with LOOGY Chris O’Grady. It didn’t matter as Conforto his a double to the right field corner.
That set up runners on second and third with one out. Instead of going with the hitless switch hitting Jose Reyes to pinch hit for Wheeler, Mickey Callaway went with Adrian Gonzalez. Callaway’s faith in Gonzalez was rewarded with him delivering a go-ahead two RBI single.
When Starlin Castro couldn’t corral an Asdrubal Cabrera pop up in shallow right field, Junichi Tazawa would be brought on to neutralize Wilmer Flores. It didn’t work with Flores delivering an RBI ground rule double. Frazier would follow with a sacrifice fly to make it 4-1 Mets.
To punctuate the win, Robert Gsellman struck out the side in the eighth. He has now struck out 12 of the 27 batters he has faced this season.
Jerry Blevins and AJ Ramos would combine to pitch a scoreless ninth to secure the Mets 4-1 victory.
Really, this was a game the Mets were dead in the water. They were unable to get a hit because of great Marlins pitching and defense. All that ended in an epic eighth inning rally. Really, that’s how great things are going for the 10-1 Mets right now. Even when getting no-hit and having no catchers left from their Opening Day roster, they come back and give Wheeler the victory.
Game Notes: While Plawecki stayed in to run the bases after the HBP, he would be lifted when his turn in the order came back up. Tomas Nido, who was called up to take d’Arnaud’s spot on the roster, pinch hit for Plawecki and hit into an inning ending double play. Reyes remains hitless.