Noah Syndergaard

Young Players Lead the Way

There was a time the Mets relying on the young meant hoping Chris Young‘s shoulder wouldn’t fall apart, or the other Chris Young hitting above the Mendoza Line. The 2016 version is much better. 

Tonight, the Mets were carried by two 23 year old superstars – Noah Syndergaard and Michael Conforto. 

Syndergaard was throwing so hard he broke the radar guns in Citi Field.  With that said, he wasn’t dominating. Of the seven innings he pitched, he had only two 1-2-3 innings. 

However, just because he wasn’t dominating doesn’t mean he wasn’t intimidating. In Billy Hamilton laid down a bunt single in the third inning. He then stole two bases leading to the Reds’ only run of the game. Hamilton’s next at bat? Syndergaard buzzed him inside reminding Hamilton he’s 60’6″ away. 

Still Syndergaard had some problems. In  the sixth, the Reds had runners on second and third with one out. Syndergaard would then strike out Devin Mesoraco and Adam Duvall to get out of the jam. He got them both with sliders. 

Speaking of the slider, Syndergaard went to that well too often.  After he passed 100 pitches, and the Reds were going to the fourth time through the lineup, they were able to get a two out rally started. 

Zack Cozart would chase Syndergaard in the seventh with an RBI single before Antonio Bastardo came in and showed signs of over use. He walked the first batter he faced before allowing a game-tying single to Joey Votto. Logan Verrett came on in relief and got the Mets out of the jam leaving the score tied 3-3. 

Syndergaard’s final line was 6.2 innings, seven hits, three earned, no walks, and nine strikeouts. 

The Mets would retake the lead on yet another Neil Walker homerun:

For his part, Conforto couldn’t make an out.  In the first inning, he hit a homer. He followed that with a single in the third. He got a shift double in the fifth. He hit a bloop by the left field line. Suarez got under it, but he still couldn’t make the play. It bounced into the stands for a ground rule double.  He walked in the seventh. The cycle was not to be.  He’s been amazing since he was called-up, and he’s been better since he started hitting third:

By the way, Lucas Duda hit another homerun:

In what was a good night overall, there was some cause for concern. Travis d’Arnaud continues to struggle behind the plate. While Syndergaard doesn’t hold runners on well, d’Arnaud’s throws were terrible. He was palming the ball. He was winding up too much. He seemed to be thinking more than reacting. Overall, the Reds were 5-5 in stolen base attempts. 

Addison Reed and Jeurys Familia closed out the win. 

The game was tougher than it should have been, but it’s still a win. It extended the Mets winning streak to four games. The streak should continue as the Mets are pulling it all together and are beating bad teams like they should. 

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Prediction for Fan Vote Under Proposed Change in All Star Voting Format

Earlier today, I published a proposal to change the way the fans vote for the All Star Game. To show how this may work, here is my best guess on how the fans may vote based upon if fans were voting today:

AMERICAN LEAGUE

AL East

Baltimore Orioles – Manny Machado 3B

Boston Red Sox – David Ortiz DH

Toronto Blue Jays – Josh Donaldson 3B

Tampa Bay Rays – Kevin Kiermaier CF

New York Yankees – Dellin Betances RP

AL Central

Chicago White Sox – Chris Sale SP

Kansas City Royals – Alex Gordon LF

Cleveland Indians – Francisco Lindor SS

Detroit Tigers – J.D. Martinez RF

Minnesota Twins – Joe Mauer 1B

AL West

Oakland Athletics – Sonny Gray SP

Texas Rangers – Adrian Beltre 3B

Seattle Mariners – Felix Hernandez SP

Los Angels Angels of Anaheim – Mike Trout CF 

Houston Astros – Jose Altuve 2B

Now, as the season progresses and players improve, we could see changes here and there like Miguel Cabrera in place of J.D. Martinez. Overall, this looks to be a fair projection. Of the 15 players selected, there were three starting pitchers, one reliever, no catchers, one first baseman, one second baseman, three third baseman, one shortstop, one left fielder, two centerfielders, one rightfielder, and a DH.  With nineteen spots left, there is plenty of room left to assemble a complete All Star Game roster. 

NATIONAL LEAGUE

NL East

Washington Nationals – Bryce Harper RF

New York Mets – Noah Syndergaard SP

Philadelphia Phillies – Vincent Velasquez SP

Miami Marlins – Giancarlo Stanton RF

Atlanta Braves – Freddie Freeman (?) 1B

NL Central

Chicago Cubs – Anthony Rizzo 1B

St. Louis Cardinals – Yadier Molina C

Pittsburgh Pirates – Starling Marte LF

Cincinnati Reds – Zack Cozart SS

Milwaukee Brewers – Ryan Braun LF

NL West

Los Angeles Dodgers – Clayton Kershaw SP

Arizona Diamondbacks – Paul Goldschmidt  1B

Colorado Rockies – Nolan Arenado 3B

San Francisco Giants – Buster Posey C

San Diego Padres – Melvin Upton, Jr. LF

In total, the National League would have three starters, no relievers, two catchers, three first basemen, no second basemen, one third baseman, one shortstop, three left fielders, no centerfielders, and two rightfielders. Again, there’s plenty of room to fill in the rest of the roster. 

OVERALL

By no means should my choices here be interpreted as the final say or who I would vote for if these rules were adapted. It’s only a guess.

With that said, there are some young and exciting players here like Syndergaard and Lindor. There are bona five superstars like Harper and Trout (who also qualify as young and exciting). Also, there are players here like Freeman and Velasquez, who may not be chosen to an All Star Game, but nevertheless, they would be there because every team must be represented. Look, if you’re going to name someone to the All Star Game who wouldn’t be there but for one rule, you might as well let those fans pick the players. 

At the end of the day, these are mostly deserving All Stars, and their inclusion would not hamper Ned Yost’s or Terry Collins’ ability to field a team. It’s time to let fans pick their own players. 

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Syndergaard Has No Equals Right Now

In a do-or-die Game Five, Terry Collins went to Noah Syndergaard in the seventh to go in there and shut down the Dodgers and preserve the Mets 3-2 lead. 

Without the need to keep his stamina for eight move innings, Syndergaard let it fly. He averaged 100 MPH with his fastball and his sinker.  Both pitches were 2-3 MPH faster than what he threw in the regular season.  He would only throw 17 pitches with one slider and three curveballs. Syndergaard came in with heat and struck out two in a scoreless inning. 

Watching that inning allowed you to continue the dream of winning the World Series.  You wondered what it would be like to see Syndergaard in the bullpen fulltime. You wanted to see how much better he could be. 

If you polled each and every Mets fan, they would tell you that Syndergaard would win at least Cy Young. They would tell you he would win at least one World Series with the Mets. They would tell you he had the drive to get better and better. For once, it wouldn’t be the fans’ fervor, it was a widely held belief in baseball circles. 

But this?  I don’t think anyone could’ve expected to see what we’ve seen out of Syndergaard so far this year. 

Last year, Syndergaard threw 17 pitches over 100 MPH.  He averaged 98 MPH on his fastball and sinker. He averaged 89 MPH on his change, 88 MPH on his slider, and 81 MPH on his curve. This year Syndergaard is just in another stratosphere. 

He’s already thrown 12 pitches over 100 MPH including hitting 102 on the radar gun. He’s actually throwing all of his pitches harder. His fastball and sinker are up to 99 MPH. His change up is 90 MPH, which is about the same speed as Bartolo Colon‘s fastball. His improved and more often thrown slider averages 93 MPH, and his curveball is at 83 MPH. His improved pitching has definitely left an impression:

Think about it this way. Syndergaard got one inning to throw it as hard as he possibly could for one inning when the Mets season was on the line. So far this year, Syndergaard has been throwing harder than that, and he has been doing that for approximately seven innings this year. How do you describe all of this? 

David Wright calls him “a maxed out video game player.”  Fans have given him the Thor moniker. 

At this point, there are no words. There are no apt comparisons. Syndergaard truly is doing something we have never seen before. The scary part is he is continuing to improve. There’s no telling where Syndergaard goes from here. All we can do is sit back and enjoy the ride. 

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Thor, Wright, and Duda Had a Whale of a Game

So far this season, two of the positive story lines, even when the team was really struggling was David Wright playing like the David Wright of old, and the continued development of Noah Syndergaard. Both were on display tonight. 

Just like when Wright first came off the DL last year, he homered tonight in his first at bat in Citizen’s Bank Ballpark:

He also made a nice bare-handed play in the field:

The Mets needed Wright because once again runs were hard to come by against a Phillies starter. The Phillies young starters are very underrated. Tonight, it was Jerad Eickhoff. Once again, he showed a filthy 12-6 curveball. He would pitch seven innings allowing five hits, two earned, three walks, and nine strikeouts. He lowered his ERA to 1.89. 

In the sixth, the Mets broke a 1-1 tie with a two out rally. Yoenis Cespedes would hit a triple, and he would score on a Lucas Duda RBI single. With Duda is struggling this year, he is hitting 4-10 with RISP. It was not the last time we would hear from Duda. For his part, Cespedes showed no ill effects from the bruised leg in the field on the basepaths. 

The real mystery from tonight was how in the world the Phillies scored the one run. Syndergaard was throwing fastballs that appeared to be 101.9 MPH. His fastball was hovering around 100 MPH all night. His slider was hovering around 95 MPH all night. His change was around 90, and his curveball, or Thor’s hammer, was around 85 MPH. His stuff was once again practically unhittable. 

Overall, Syndergaard pitched seven innings allowing five hits, one earned, two walks, and eight strikeouts. This actually raised his ERA to 0.90. 

Once Eickhoff left the game, the Mets began to tee off against a terrible Phillies bullpen. In the eighth, Duda hit a laser to right field for his first homerun of the season. 

Neil Walker would go back-to-back with an opposite field homerun to left. It was his fourth of the year. In the ninth, Wright would hit his second homerun of the game. Both were opposite field shots. They turned a tight 2-1 pitcher’s duel into a comfortable 5-1 win. 

Antonio Bastardo pitched a scoreless eighth. Jeurys Familia came into a non-save situation. On the one hand, it could’ve been your typical closer struggling in a non-save situation. It also could’ve part of what has been, at least for him, a tough start to the season. Familia let up a single and double before settling down. He got the next three out, but not before allowing a run to score on a fielder’s choice. Fortunately, Familia finally shut the door before allowing a run preserving the 5-2 win. 

The Mets are back to .500, and with a soft part of their schedule this week, the Mets look to be ready to take off. 
Game Notes: The Mets hitters continue to strike out a lot. Tonight, they struck out 11 times. Mets have hit 23 homeruns in their last 11 games at Citizen’s Bank. Travis d’Arnaud missed the game with the bruised elbow. In the eighth, Juan Lagares was double switched into the game forcing Michael Conforto to the bench. The Mets allowed three stolen bases including two when Syndergaard was on the mound.  It’s the one thing he doesn’t do well. In the fourth, when Duda popped out, a whale appeared on the screen:

 
I guess the parakeet’s and the raccoon’s days are numbered. 

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For Four’s Sake

Tonight’s start by Noah Syndergaard was good. Why do I describe it as good?  Because no matter what adjective you would pick to describe his start would be grossly underselling it, so you might as well just go with good. Too bad the Mets offense can’t even be described as putrid. Otherwise, Syndergaard and the Mets might’ve gotten the win tonight. 

Syndergaard just dominated the Marlins like he did the Royals – like he’s going to do to the rest of baseball this year. Syndergaard went seven innings allowing seven hits, one earned, one walk, and 12 strikeouts. His ERA actually increased to 0.69. 

However, as good as Syndergaard was, he still needed some help. Derek Dietrich would start the inning with a leadoff double, and he would wind up running the Marlins out of the inning. After a ground out and line out, Ichiro Suzuki singled to short, and Dietrich did a poor Eric Hosmer impersonation. Lucas Duda nailed him easily at the plate. Even if Ichiro would’ve been ruled out on replay, it was good to see Duda get some measure of redemption. 

However, despite Syndergaard’s domination, the Mets still lost. They lost because the Mets still are not hitting or scoring runs. 

The only run was scored on a Duda first inning RBI single. After that, it was pretty much nothing. At least tonight, they had the excuse of a dominant Jose Fernandez for five innings. Yoenis Cespedes gave one a ride in the third, but it was knocked down by the 29+ MPH winds blowing in from left field. 

The turning point was Dee Gordon‘s eighth inning sixteen pitch at bat against Jim Henderson.  Gordon would single to left. Henderson would walk two of the next three to leave the bases loaded. Henderson just lost his control, and he almost hit Giancarlo Stanton in the head. Jerry Blevins came into the game, and Don Mattingly used Martin Prado to pinch hit. Prado would get the game winning sac fly, and the Marlins would win 2-1. 

The Mets have now lost four in a row and are 1-4 at home. 

Game Notes: Terry Collins allowed Michael Conforto to hit against a lefty with runners on first and second with one out in the sixth. He grounded into an inning ending double play. Cespedes had another good night at the plate going 1-3 with a walk. Collins ignored the fact that Henderson is playing his first full season since shoulder surgery:

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Mets Have Momentum

The late, great, Hall of Fame Manager Earl Weaver used to say, “Momentum?  Momentum is the next day’s starting pitcher.”  With that said, the Mets should have momentum all throughout 2016. 

With a 2-4 start, it hasn’t always worked out that way, but tonight Mets fans get to see Noah Syndergaard take the mound. Last time we saw him, he was doing things like this:

He’s become unhittable. He makes you want to jump out of your chair and scream:

Fact is, whenever you have Thor on the mound, your team has momentum. They can go out there and beat the ’27 Yankees. They can go out there and beat the Big Red Machine just like Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, and Jon Matlack did. When any member of a power triumvirate of Mets pitchers takes the mound, you have to like your chances of winning. You’ve got momentum. 

Tonight, momentum, thy name is Thor. 

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Matz Was Glavinesque

The Mets sent out Steven Matz, who is the proverbial fourth member of what had been touted as the Big Four. Mets fans all hope each of these pitchers will be future Hall of Famers. Tonight, Matz did a pretty good impersonation of Tom Glavine. 

Like Glavine, Matz allowed seven runs to the Marlins. At least Matz lasted a little longer. Matz’s final line was 1.2 innings, six hits, seven earned, two walks, and one strikeout. Before the game, Matz was 4-0 with a 2.27 ERA. This year, he’s 0-1 with a 37.80 ERA. 

In the fateful second inning, seemingly every Marlin got a hit including Barry Bonds and Don Mattingly got hits. Of course, Giancarlo Stanton provided the exclamation point:

It needs to be constantly reiterated, but Bonds seems to be having a very real impact on this Marlins team. Six of their eight regulars are hitting over .300. They had no problem hitting Matz. This is a young Marlins club with a lot of offensive talent. If they realize that potential, it’s a definitive blow to the Mets chances to return to the postseason . . . especially with how this club plays the Marlins. 

As for the Mets, their bullpen did a yeoman’s job. Hansel Robles pitched 2.1 innings allowing four hits, one earned, one walk, and three strikeouts. Antonio Bastardo pitched 1.1 innings allowing four hits, two runs, one walk, and two strikeouts. Addison Reed pitched 1.2 innings with no hits, no runs, and four strikeouts. Jeurys Familia was pressed into action even though he has the flu. Jerry Blevins pitched the ninth. The night was such a disaster that Blevins finally allowed a hit in his Mets career. It was an infield single to Dee Gordon with two outs in the ninth. 

The Mets might’ve avoided burning through their entire bullpen like that if they would’ve just put Jacob deGrom on the DL. Sean Gilmartin, who was very effective as the long man last year, could’ve soaked up some of those innings. It would’ve been all the more imperative with Logan Verrett going on Wednesday. 

Offensively?  Well the Mets had seven hits and three runs. All of the runs came after the game was over. Two of those hits were from David Wright, who despite his career being declared over, has been the Mets best offensive player so far this year. He’s hitting .333 with a .478 OBP. Perhaps that’s the reason why the man with the bad back played all nine innings in a 10-3 blowout. 

All kidding aside, the Mets decision making in this young season has been perplexing. Terry Collins bats three lefties bunched up together every day (with his splits, Neil Walker is effectively a left handed hitter). Jim Henderson leads the Mets in appearances despite not having pitched in two years and coming off a second shoulder surgery. Remember that next time Collins gets emotional over Johan Santana. At least Collins isn’t to blame for the team’s mismanagement of the deGrom/bullpen situation. 

With all that said, this is a game the Mets should just forget about. It’s another game to forget in what has been a mostly forgettable start to the season. Fortunately, momentum is the next day’s starting pitcher, and Noah Syndergaard is scheduled to pitch tomorrow. So, in that sense, the Mets have some momentum going. 

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2016 Shouldn’t Be a Disappointing Season

Between 1984 – 1990, the Mets finished in second place or better.  Over the course of these seven seasons, the Mets averaged 95 wins.  Without question, this was the best stretch in Mets history.  It’s strange to think that any point in time your team averages 95 wins over the course of five seasons, you are disappointed.  However, as Ron Darling expained to Mike Francesa, he feels “very disappointed” that the Mets didn’t accomplish more.

While Dariling’s feelings are understandable, and many Mets fans would agree with him, there are a number of reasons that we can point to as the reason why the Mets didn’t win more.  Rick Sutcliffe went an amazing 16-1 after the Cubs acquired him helping them win the division in 1984.  The Mets had to contend with a really good Cardinals team year in and year out.  The Mets were snakebit with injuries during the 1987 season.  The Mets ran into Orel Hershiser, who had one of the greatest seasons for a pitcher ever in 1988, in the NLCS.  However, truth be told Davey Johnson managed a horrific series.  In 1989, the team was in transition, and in  1990, the Pittsburgh Pirates were just better and were embarking on their own run.  All of these reasons are valid, but the main reason everyone points to would be the drug problems, namely with Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry.

There’s another reason why those Mets teams only got one shot at a World Series – the postseason format.  Back in that time frame, the only teams that went to the postseason were the division winners.  In today’s game, it would be unheard of a team winning 98 games not only missing the postseason, but also missing the postseason by three games.  If you apply, the current postseason rules and divisional formats to the 1980’s, the Mets would have had won the NL East for all seven of those seasons.  Its possible that instead of talking about the 1986 World Series, we’re talking about the Mets’ dynasty.  It’s possible the Mets would’ve won multiple World Series during that stretch.  It’s also possible that like the Braves in the 90’s, the Mets would only win one World Series, and we would be left questioning what happened.

Whatever may be the case, it’s apparent that those Mets teams did not get as many chances to reach the postseason as this current Mets team will.  Last year, the Mets won the NL East with 90 wins.  From 1984 – 1990, the Mets only won the NL East in the two seasons they won 100 games.

There is no reason for this Mets team to only go to the postseason twice with their current core group of players.  Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, and Noah Syndergaard are under team control until 2019.  Young players like Michael Conforto already contributing,  There are big prospects like Dilson Herrera and Amed Rosario who we should see within the next few seasons at Citi Field contributing to what is already a World Series contending team.  Without being too unreasonable, I believe this Mets team is set to contend for a longer period of time than Ron Darling’s Mets’ teams.  To expect that seems unreasonable, but when you consider the young talent already on the team and in the pipeline, it’s certainly possible.

So before the Mets play their home opener today, they’re going to raise 2015 National League Champions flag.  As we saw again that postseason, there is a lot that can happen along the way that can help you advance in each series.  If not for Daniel Murphy having a game for the ages, and the Dodgers being unable to hit deGrom despite him having nothing, the Mets lose in the NLDS.  The Mets are instead raising at 2015 National League East flag.  So no, the 2016 season is not World Series or bust, nor in retrospect is the Mets only winning one World Series from 1984 – 1990 really disappointing.

With that said, I don’t blame Ron Darling for feeling the way he does.  I won’t blame the current Mets players from feeling the same way about 2015.  There is a World Series championship in the Mets clubhouse.  Whether that is in 2016 or later, we do not know yet.  Right now, I will say that as long as this Mets group wins one World Series, I won’t be disappointed because I will have been able to see something that has only happened twice in the Mets 54 year history.  No matter what happens in 2016, it promises to be a special season, and I can’t wait to watch each and every minute of it.

Lets Go Mets.

 

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Thor Is Unhittable 

Last season, Noah Syndergaard basically dominated with a fastball/sinker, curveball, and a changeup. He tinkered with a slider, but he only threw it 3.15% of the time. After a full offseason to work on the pitch, Syndergaard announced in a big way that the pitch will be a big part of his repertoire this season. 

A 95 MPH SLIDER!  ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!?!?!? 

You don’t throw 95 MPH sliders with all the cheat codes on when you’re playing a video game. It’s not seemingly impossible.  It is impossible.  Somehow, someway Syndergaard was able to do it.  Syndergaard took that pitch and took it to another level. Everyone noticed it, including Syndergaard himself as Adam Rubin reported:

“I realized in the beginning of the game I had a pretty good feel for it,” Syndergaard said. “I really took it to the next level, because I’ve never thrown a 95 MPH slider before . . . .  I kind of shocked myself with how good my slider was. It felt good in spring training, but I amped it up to another level today.”

That’s an understatement. Seven of Syndergaard’s nine strikeouts came with the slider.  He only had 11 strikeouts from his slider all last season.  None of the Royals could hit the pitch, not even Hall of Famer George Brett – he of 3,154 hits and a career .307 batting average. As reported by Joel Sherman of the New York Post:

“There is no man alive who could’ve hit those three sliders [Syndergaard] threw to Morales,” Yost said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a 95-mph slider. George Brett was in here [his office] and I asked him if he could hit that, and he said no way. 

After watching Syndergaard last year, we should no longer be surprised that Syndergaard has unmatched and unhittable stuff. And yet, he continues to amaze because he has a strong work ethic and a willingness to be coached. He gets better and better. He even amazed his teammates; the same people who watch him day in and day out. As David Wright said in Adam Rubin’s article:

“He had electric stuff,” captain David Wright said. “I looked up at the scoreboard and saw 94, 95. I go ask [catcher] Travis [d’Arnaud] what those pitches were, and he’s talking about sliders. That’s unheard of. That’s about as good as I’ve seen. Stuff-wise, composure-wise, for a young guy to come into this environment and throw that type of game, he’s got the ability to be a special one. 

By the way, for all the talk about his new unhittable slider, Syndergaard still had his original unhittable pitches working:

As Joel Sherman reported, Alex Gordon said, “He was throwing me fastballs right down the middle, and I couldn’t catch up.”  No one was catching up to the fastball. No one was making contact with the slider. Travis d’Arnaud, an exceptional receiver, even had trouble catching the pitch at times. Syndergaard now has two unhittable pitches. 

We all joke that Syndergaard is really Thor, the Norse god of thunder. It’s a moniker Syndergaard fully embraces.  With his other worldly stuff, at what point does this seek being a joke and start being accepted as reality?

Editor’s Note: this article was first published on metsmerizedonline.com

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This Was What Game 6 of the World Series Would’ve Looked Like

Aside from the fact that Curtis Granderson didn’t hit a homerun, Opening Day sure felt like a repeat of the 2015 World Series. As the late Yogi Berra would say, “It’s déjà vu, all over again.”  We had the following:

  1. Yoenis Cespedes failing to make a routine play in the outfield leading to a run;
  2. A good Matt Harvey effort getting wasted;
  3. The Royals taking advantage of a poor Mets defense; 
  4. Michael Conforto being really impressive; and
  5. The Mets losing. 

For all the debating over the course of the offseason regarding Terry Collins leaving in Harvey, we got a taste of what Game 6 would’ve looked like. It wasn’t pretty. It really highlighted what the Royals did well, and the Mets did poorly. 

The main difference between these teams is fundies (as Keith Hernandez puts it), defense, and a little bit of luck. Cespedes drops an easy out off the bat of Mike Moustakas, and he later scores on a single past Asdrubal Cabrera, who showed off his limited range at short on the play. Eric Hosmer‘s bunt stays fair while Juan Lagares‘ goes foul. Yes, it would lead to a run. Alex Gordon hits one off the end of the bat falling just out of the reach of Lagares to score a run. It was as frustrating as the World Series. 

Since the Mets lost, let’s start with the bad. Mainly, it was David Wright. He couldn’t hit a fastball. He was 0-4 with a walk and two strikeouts. The last strikeout was in the ninth with the tying run on third. He made a couple of plays in the field, but he was able to get absolutely nothing on his throws. While it’s still early, and you don’t want to overreact to anything. However, with Wright’s back, I’m not sure it overreacting. 

Also, the home plate umpire wax terrible. He was calling strikes in the area where Noah Syndergaard goes when he’s standing 60′ 6″ away, but over the plate was called a ball. Even worse than that was the ESPN brand new telecast. They delayed the start 40 minutes for an already late 8:00 start. They did inane segments like “The Mendoza Line” and Aaron Boone imitating batting stances. Even better, there were all-in on the Royals. When the Mets got something going in the 8th, they were being Royals-esque. 

This is also Opening Day – a time when anything is possible. A time when we are supposed to be full of hope. There were definitely reasons for hope. 

Harvey was good. The stat line wasn’t pretty with him allowing four runs (three earned) with eight hits, three walks, and only two strikeouts in 5.2 innings. However, his stuff looked good, and he really wasn’t helped by his fielders. 

Conforto was 2-2 with a double and two walks. Last year was a fluke. He’s a much better player than he showed he was last year. Another good sign was the Mets offense that was asleep for almost all of Spring Training, woke up in the 8th and made it a game. The rally was highlighted by a Lucas Duda two run bases-loaded RBI single. 

Sadly, the 8th inning rally fell short as the new double play combination make the outs killing the rally. In the ninth, we yet again saw Wade Davis and record the save, stranding the tying run on third, and locking down the 4-3 win. It was as frustrating a loss as you could’ve imagined. However, the Mets can build off of this. There was nothing you can point to tonight that would make you believe the Mets aren’t World Series contenders. 

It’s time to dust themselves off. Continue to work on things during their off day, and go to the next ace in the fold in Game 2. 

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