Ron Darling
With today being Valentine’s Day, it is only right we get into the spirit of things by being as clever as Bobby Valentine was the time he used eye black to make a fake mustache. Without further ado, here are some “clever” Mets themed Valentine’s Day lines you may see on one of those cards you used to pass out to your classmates in grammar school:
Jerry Blevins – Jerry? Hello! Be my Valentine
Josh Edgin – I’m Edgin my way closer to you.
Jeurys Familia – I want to become Familia with your sexy self.
Matt Harvey – If you thought 50 Shades of Grey was seductive, wait until you see the Dark Knight I have in store for you.
Seth Lugo – Lugo you want to get with this.
Rafael Montero – You might as well be my Valentine because we both know there’s not getting rid of me not matter how awful I am.
Addison Reed – You and Me Addison up to a great Valentine’s Day
Hansel Robles – You’re so hot right now
Fernando Salas – If I had to the same again, I would, my Valentine, Fernando
Josh Smoker – You’re so hot, I can see the Smoker from miles away
Noah Syndergaard – Can you handle this god’s thunder?
Yoenis Cespedes – There’s a lot of Potencia between you and I Valentine
Travis d’Arnaud – d’Arnaud it pains me to be apart from you
Lucas Duda – Duda right thing and be my Valentine
Wilmer Flores – I’ll cry if you put me in the Friends zone
Amed Rosario – Don’t Be Surprised Be Ready
Neil Walker – I would Walker 5,000 miles to be your Valentine
David Wright – It’s only Wright we would be Valentines
Jay Bruce – Let me be the Valentine you regret for years to come.
Michael Conforto – It’s a Conforto to know whether in NY or Vegas we’re Valentines
Curtis Granderson – It’s Grandy being your Valentine
Juan Lagares – You’re the only Juan for me
Brandon Nimmo – Nimmo I’m smiling because of you.
Ron Darling – Be my Darling this Valentine’s Day
Keith Hernandez – I mustache you to be my Valentine’s Day OR How about a Valentine’s Day mustache ride?
Happy Valentine’s Day
There are many factors to consider when voting for a candidate today. At this point, they have all be regurgitated and discussed at length, and hopefully, you have made your decision based upon sound criteria. However, if you are looking for a reason to change your mind or reason to have your mind made up for you, or you really want to base this important decision on how the Mets have fared with a Republican or a Democrat in office, you are in luck. Here is how the Mets have performed under each President in their 54 year history:
| President | Seasons | Record | Win % |
| John F. Kennedy | 1962 – 1963 | 91 – 231 | 0.283 |
| Lyndon B. Johnson | 1964 – 1968 | 303 – 506 | 0.375 |
| Richard M Nixon | 1969 – 1974* | 478 – 433 | 0.525 |
| Gerald R. Ford | 1974* – 1976 | 263 – 277 | 0.487 |
| Jimmy Carter | 1977 – 1980 | 260 – 388 | 0.401 |
| Ronald Reagan | 1981 – 1988 | 662 – 573 | 0.536 |
| George H.W. Bush | 1989 – 1992 | 386 – 423 | 0.477 |
| William Jefferson Clinton | 1993 – 2000 | 562 – 506 | 0.526 |
| George W. Bush | 2001 – 2008 | 651 – 643 | 0.503 |
| Barack Obama | 2009 – 2016 | 630-666 | 0.486 |
* Nixon resigned from office August 9, 1974
Here are the cumulative results:
| Party | Record | Win% |
| Democrat | 1,846 – 2,297 | 0.446 |
| Republican | 2,440 – 2,349 | 0.510 |
Here are some interesting Mets postseason facts when there was a Democrat or Republican in the White House.
Democrat Postseason Facts
- The two times the Mets have been to back-to-back postseasons was when there was a Democrat in the White House (1999 & 2000 – Clinton; 2015 & 2016 – Obama)
- The Mets have only had an NLCS MVP when there was a Democrat in the White House (Mike Hampton – 2000; Daniel Murphy – 2015)
- The Mets have only won the division once (2015) with a Democrat in office. The other three postseason appearances were as the Wild Card.
- The Mets have appeared in four total postseasons and two World Series. The Mets are 21-17 in postseason games with the following records per round:
Wild Card Game 0 – 1 NLDS 9 – 4 NLCS 10 – 4 World Series 2 – 8
Republican Postseason Facts
- The Mets have won their only two World Series with a Republican in office (1969 – Nixon; 1986 – Reagan)
- In all five of their appearances in the postseason with a Republican in office, the Mets were the National Leauge East champions.
- In three of the five appearances, the Mets won 100+ games with the high water mark coming in 1986 with 108 wins
- In four of the five seasons the Mets appeared in the postseason with a Republican in office, the Mets had the best record in the National League (1973 is the exception). In two of those seasons (1986 & 2006), the Mets had the best record in baseball.
- In total, the Mets have appeared in five postseason and three World Series. The Mets are 30-20 in those postseason games with the following records per round:
NLDS 3 – 0 NLCS 16 – 12 World Series 11 – 8
If you wish to mainly focus on player performance over how the team has fared during each administration, Mets players have received more awards during Republican leadership:
Cy Young Award
- Republican 4 (Tom Seaver 1969, 1973, & 1975; Dwight Gooden 1985);
- Democrat 1 (R.A. Dickey 2012)
Rookie of the Year
- Republican 3 (Seaver 1967; Jon Matlack 1972; Darryl Strawberry 1983; Gooden 1984)
- Democrat 1 (Jacob deGrom 2014)
Rolaids Relief Man
- Republican 2 (John Franco 1990; Armando Benitez 2001)
- Democrat 0
Sports Illustrated Man of the Year
- Republican 1 (Seaver 1969)
- Democrat 0
Gold Gloves
- Republican 14 (Tommie Agee 1970; Bud Harrelson 1971; Keith Hernandez 1983 – 1988; Ron Darling 1989; Carlos Beltran 2006 – 2008; David Wright 2007 – 2008)
- Democrat 6 (Doug Flynn 1980; Rey Ordonez 1997 – 1999; Robin Ventura 1999; Juan Lagares 2014)
Silver Sluggers
- Republican 14 (Hernandez 1984; Gary Carter 1985 – 1986; Strawberry 1988; Howard Johnson1989 & 1991; Mike Piazza 2001 – 2002; Jose Reyes 2006; Beltran 2006 – 2007; Wright 2007 – 2008)
- Democrat 5 (Piazza 1998 – 2000; Edgardo Alfonzo 1999; Hampton 2000)
Roberto Clemente Award
- Republican 2 (Carter 1989; Carlos Delgado 2006)
- Democrat 2 (Al Leiter 2000; Curtis Granderson 2016)
From the Front Office side, Republicans have a 2-1 edge in executive of the year with Johnny Murphy winning in 1969, Frank Cashen winning in 1986, and Sandy Alderson winning in 2015. Baseball America named the Mets the top organization in baseball once in a Republican (1984) and once in a Democratic (1995) term.
As a general rule of thumb, the Mets and their players have performed better with a Republican in office. As you enter the voting booths today, take that as you will. Hopefully, you have more sound criteria for choosing your candidate.
With the Cubs beating the Indians 9-3 last night, we are going to get a Game 7. As we have seen over the course of history, sometimes you get a great Game 7 like the last one in 2014 when Madison Bumgarner came out of the pen to shut down the Royals again. You can get a very good one like 1986 when the Red Sox knocked Ron Darling out early only for Sid Fernandez to stabilize the game and give the Mets a chance to overcome an early 3-0 deficit. Then you get the 2002 and 2011 World Series where teams coming off deflating losses didn’t really play close games.
Tonight, there is a lot of unknowns. Will there be a Gene Larkin or a Jose Mesa tonight? Do we see one fo the unhittable relievers suffer the same fate as Mariano Rivera did in 2001? Worse yet, will there be a Fred Snodgrass moment that will leave people talking about a player’s decision for centuries? Right about now there are about three things we know:
- One fanbase is going to be left in even more excruciating pain than they already are;
- The other fanbase will experience joy like none other; and
- This game will have to be off the charts to even match Jack Morris–John Smoltz in 1991.
There are a number of factors at play in deciding who is the hero and who is the goat (pun intended) in tonight’s game. Here are some of my thoughts on the game:
Defense Matters
Arguably, the difference in last night’s game was right field defense. In the first, the indecision between Tyler Naquin and Lonnie Chisenhall led to two additional runs in the first inning for the Cubs. For his part, Chisenall has had a terrible World Series in right field. On the other side, Jason Heyward had a great game defensively in right field capping it off by nailing Roberto Perez at second to snuff out any chance at in improbable rally in the ninth. With that said, Rajai Davis absolutely has to start tonight’s game for the Indians.
David Ross Should Start
We have already seen the impact of pitch framing in one game of the World Series so far. You know Perez is going to get every call for Corey Kluber tonight. You don’t know that about Willson Contreras. Yes, Contreras has been decent in that area, but he is not on par with David Ross. If you want Kyle Hendricks to get the calls Kluber is going to get, you need Ross out there.
You also need Ross out there for another reason. As Joe Maddon has already indicated, Jon Lester may come out of the bullpen to pitch tonight. If that is the case, the Cubs will need Ross to catch him to help neutralize the running game. The last thing you want is to have a runner steal second off the Lester-Contreras pairing late in the game. You also don’t want to remove your better bat in Contreras late in the game should you need offense. With that being the case, Ross should start.
Chapman’s Game 6 May Haunt the Cubs
Because Maddon screwed up, he didn’t have a reliever available to pitch the bottom of the ninth. As such, Chapman threw an additional five pitches he didn’t need to throw. No, five pitches will not make or break Chapman. Still, keep in mind, Chapman had to come off the bench and warm up and throw five unnecessary pitches. He wasn’t close with most of them either. Between Games 5 and 6, Chapman has now thrown 62 pitches over the course of three days. That’s a huge workload for him. No one knows how that will affect him in Game 7.
Kluber Just Needs to Go Four Innings
Kluber is once again going on short rest. While it worked out well in Game 4, we do not know if he can pitch as well in Game 7 especially with him going against a Cubs team with a lot more confidence at the plate. Fortunately for him and the Indians, he does not need to go deep into the game. With the Indians effectively getting blown out last night, Terry Francona did not need to go to Joe Shaw, Andrew Miller, or Cody Allen. Accordingly, each reliever should be good for at least two innings a piece meaning Kluber just needs to get through the fourth, preferably with a lead. And who knows? With the way Francona has used Miller, Kluber may only need to go three.
Both Managers Need a Quick Hook
As we know with Kluber going on short rest, and with the way Francona has managed this postseason, the Indians will not be afraid to lift him early in the game even if Kluber isn’t struggling.
Maddon needs to adopt a similar approach as he has the past few games. While he doesn’t have the talented bullpen Francona has, he has both Lester and John Lackey available in the pen. Both have proven themselves as good postseason pitchers, and for his part, Lackey was the winning pitcher in Game 7 of the 2002 World Series. Should Hendricks face early trouble, like he did in Game 3, Maddon should get him because it is not likely the Indians will run themselves out of an inning again. By the way, I’m sure Jake Arrieta will also make himself available to pitch if need be.
We Don’t Know Who the Hero Is Going to Be
Seeing how hot he is lately, you would be inclined to guess Jason Kipnis would be the guy to carry the Indians tonight should they win it, but remember it was Perez who was the hero in Game 1 with him hitting two home runs. For the Cubs, it was Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo who got going last night, but for all you know Javier Baez could return to his NLCS form and get the big hits tonight.
Remember, it was Craig Counsell who played a major factor in two ninth inning rallies to help their teams overcome a one run deficit in a Game 7. It was Larkin who got the winning hit in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series. Heck, it was Bill Mazeroski of all people who hit the walk off home run to end the 1960 World Series. Seeing who gets the big hit tonight is part of the fun.
Overall, this has been a good World Series. Tonight’s game could make it a great World Series.
Time and again, we have heard about the Billy Goat curse and the Chicago Cubs not having won a World Series since 1908. As a result, many are supposed to empathize with them for their time falling short time and again. Moreover, many sympathize with a fan base that has never seen their team win a World Series in their lifetime. While all of this is true, it is not appreciably different than being a Cleveland Indians fan.
The Indians last won the World Series in 1948 against the Boston Braves. Yes, the Boston, not Atlanta Braves. That’s how long ago the Indians last World Series title was. If you are to assume that a 10 year old had the full capacity to appreciate the World Series victory and remember the run to the World Series, that means Indians fans who could relish those Lou Boudreau teams were born in 1938. That would make those fans 78 years old today. Rounding up just a tad, unless you are an octogenarian, Indians fans have never seen their team win a World Series. What they have seen is some excruciating losses.
Back in 1995, the Indians sent out what could be considered the greatest offensive team ever assembled. That Indians team was shut down by Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Steve Avery over the six game set. A team that had scored 840 runs in 144 games (strike shortened season), an average of 5.8 runs per game, could only muster 19 runs (3.2 runs per game) in the series. A team that was shutout just three times in the regular season would be shut out in Game Six of the World Series in an excruciating 1-0 loss.
The 1997 Indians weren’t the favorites to win the World Series. Instead, they had to fight and claw their way back to the World Series. They needed the rookie Jaret Wright to become a Yankee killer and Sandy Alomar, Jr.Moi to hit a pivotal home run in what was going to be the Game 4 clincher of the ALDS for the defending champion Yankees. Instead, the Indians persevered and would win their second pennant in three years after beating the Orioles in six in the ALCS. It should be noted Armando Benitez took the loss in that game being a harbinger of things to come for Mets fans.
That 1997 World Series was thrilling with the Marlins and Indians alternating wins setting the stage for an epic Game 7. The Indians had to like their chances with their newfound postseason hero Wright going up against Al Leiter. The Indians had tattooed Leiter for seven runs in 4.2 innings in Game 4. Leiter would never win a postseason start in his career. While it was more of a challenge than the Indians expected, they hand their closer, Jose Mesa, on the mound with a 2-1 lead in the ninth inning. Mesa would blow the game allowing Craig Counsell to hit a sacrifice fly to score Moises Alou (again how was he not the MVP of that series) to tie the game. The Indians couldn’t touch the Marlins bullpen in extra innings. Finally, in the 11th, Charles Nagy gave up the game winning hit to Edgar Renteria scoring Counsell of all people as the winning run. That is as excruciating a loss as it gets for a fan.
There have been other tales of recent woe for this Indians fan base. In 1998, the Yankees exacted revenge against Wright and the Indians by scoring five runs in the first inning off Wright en route to a Yankees 4-2 ALCS series win. In 1999, the Indians blew a 2-0 series lead and a 5-2 lead in Game 5 to lose the ALDS to the Red Sox. That game was memorable for Pedro Martinez‘s epic performance out of the bullpen. The lean years were not too far away from here.
Then there was an Indians resurgence. In 2007, the Indians had a 3-1 game lead over the Red Sox in the ALCS with Game 5 at home. CC Sabathia just couldn’t close the deal, and the Indians bullpen would implode leading the Red Sox to their comeback. Like the rest of baseball, the Indians would watch helplessly as the Red Sox would win their second World Series in four years. To make matters worse, the small market Indians would have to break up the team. Two years later, Indians fans would watch as Sabathia took the hill for the Yankees in Game One of the World Series against Cliff Lee and the Philadelphia Phillies.
In response, many Cubs fans will scream the Bartman Game! One of their own prevented them from winning the pennant and going to the World Series back in 2003. Of course, that narrative is a bit nonsense because there is a real debate as to whether or not Alou could catch that ball. Furthermore, that didn’t cause Dusty Baker to leave Mark Prior out there too long. It didn’t cause Alex Gonzalez to allow a double play ball to go through his legs. It didn’t cause the Cubs to blow a 3-0 lead. It certainly didn’t cause the Cubs and Kerry Wood to blow a 5-3 lead in Game 7. Furthermore, it did not cause Cubs fans to try to ruin Bartman’s life.
Absolutely, blowing a 3-1 series lead when your team hasn’t won a World Series in nearly a century is devastating. It was no more devastating than the Indians blowing the 2007 ALCS. It is definitively not more devastating than the 1997 World Series.
Sure, it hurts to lose and not be competitive. However, as a Mets fan I know the 2015 World Series loss was infinitely more hurtful than anything I saw from 1991 – 1996 or 2001 – 2004 or even 2009 – 2014. No, it is hte misses that stick with you the longest. Personally, I’m more haunted by Ron Darling pitching the worst game of his life against an unbeatable Orel Hershiser, Kenny Rogers walking Andruw Jones, Luis Sojo‘s two RBI single off Leiter, Carlos Beltran looking at an Adam Wainwright curveball, Eric Hosmer‘s mad dash to home plate, and any of the other events that led to those deciding plays which ended the Mets postseasons.
The Cubs may not have won since 1908, but the Indians fan base is the more tortured fan base. They deserve this World Series title more than anyone.
Coming into tonight’s game, the Phillies made overtures they wanted to knock the Mets out if the postseason.
Early on, Cameron Rupp would put the money where his mouth is by hitting a second inning sacrifice fly off Robert Gsellman. With Alec Asher starting with three perfect innings, it appeared that the Mets would have a dog fight on their hands. The Mets were up to the task.
In the fourth, Yoenis Cespedes and Curtis Granderson would hit back-to-back two out singles to set the stage for Jay Bruce. Two weeks ago, it would be inning and rally over. Now? He’s scorching hot, and he confined the hot streak with an RBI single in this spot. T.J. Rivera followed with an RBI single of his own to make it 2-1.
That’s as close as the Phillies would get despite Jimmy Paredes giving one a ride in the sixth that looked as if it would put the Phillies ahead until Granderson ran his long fly down:
Grand grab‼️ ? #Mets pic.twitter.com/zfY1znQqH7
— New York Mets (@Mets) October 1, 2016
That would close the book on Gsellman who had a terrific slider going all night long. After that second inning rally, the Phillies wouldn’t get much going against him. Gsell man’s final line was six innings, seven hits, one run, one earned, one walk, and seven strikeouts. He’d hand the ball off to the unstoppable 7-8-9 combination of Fernando Salas–Addison Reed–Jeurys Familia.
Unlike most games where they find themselves walking a tightrope, the Mets would get them some insurance runs.
First, Bruce would chase Asher with a home run in the seventh making it 3-1. Then, in the eighth, the Mets would have one of the more bizarre rallies, you will ever see.
It started innocently enough with an Alejandro De Aza pinch hit single. He’d move to second on a Jose Reyes single, and then he’d find himself on third when Aaron Altherr overran the ball. Then, well, it was one of the more bizarre sequences, you’ll ever see.
While Reyes was running back to first with his hands on his head, Ryan Howard just couldn’t get to it. He couldn’t get to a ball that landed on the first base bag! With that the ball bounced off the bag, with Cespedes reaching safely, Reyes being forced out at second, and De Aza scoring from third.
Granderson would then walk moving Cespedes into scoring position. Bruce then followed this tomfoolery with an RBI single just against the shift to make it 5-1 Mets. Bruce continued the hot hitting going 3-4 with a run, three RBI, and a homer. After his RBI single, he was lifted for Juan Lagares for defense as Collins was taking no chances.
With the Mets looking to potentially lock down a Wild Card spot tonight, Collins stuck with the Reed-Familia plan to close it out. With the appearance, Familia would set a career high in appearances and games finished.
Depending on the outcome of the Cardinals game, the Mets mission for the 2016 season is almost finished.
Game Notes: Lucas Duda returned to the lineup going 0-4. James Loney replaced him for defense in the ninth. This was Ron Darling‘s last game of the year on SNY. Something tells me it won’t be his last Mets game of the year.
Yoenis Cespedes and Asdrubal Cabrera are supposed to come off the disabled list, but that doesn’t mean that the Mets are getting healthy for the stretch run. Not in the least. Seth Lugo will make his first career start as Steven Matz is going to miss tonight’s start due to his bone spurs. Sorry, he is going to miss the start due to shoulder discomfort.
Matz started feeling shoulder discomfort the day after his last start. Matz felt this shoulder discomfort after having gone 7.1 innings in his prior start and throwing 120 pitches over six innings the start before that. In his last start, Matz had all but scrapped his slider, and he started relying more on his curveball as a weapon to get batters out.
It is important to note the Mets pitched Matz because they believed there was no structural damage. As Sandy Alderson said, “Continuing to pitch will not cause any structural damage. We will continue to monitor his situation, but at this point it’s a function of if he can tolerate the discomfort while continuing to pitch.” (New York Post). It should also be noted that, according to Jon Heyman, the Mets talked Matz out of getting surgery to remove the bone spur. Instead, the Mets decided it was best to have their young lefty try to pitch through the pain and help the Mets win another World Series.
One thing that stood out in Matz’s last start was how everyone seemed to believe he turned a corner. Not just this season, but possibly his career. Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez talked a few times about how important it was for young players to learn the ability to pitch while being hurt, while having pain. As Darling would say, pitchers always have pain, and therefore, they need to learn how to deal with it if they are going to take that next step.
That begs the question – was Matz pitching through pain or was he pitching through injury? Matz is going to miss this start, and according to Terry Collins, he may very well miss his next start as well. What if Matz pitching with the bone spurs led to his shoulder injury? There will be many theories bandied about, but at the end of the day, no one knows quite for sure. However, what we do know is that the Mets best chances to win both this year and the years going forward is keeping their starting pitchers healthy. They haven’t been healthy this year.
For what it’s worth, after his last start, Matz didn’t feel there was an issue saying, “My arm’s been feeling great. I have no complaints there.” (Newsday). Except, now he does, and we don’t know why. The only thing we do know is that the Mets pressured him into pitching with an injury in his elbow, and now, they are sitting him with a shoulder injury.
Going into the season, the major concern was Tommy John. There was the fear that Noah Syndergaard would need Tommy John surgery due to his velocity and work load. There was concern over whether Zack Wheeler would be able to successfully return from Tommy John surgery. There was less of a concern about whether Josh Edgin could as well. There were concerns over how Matt Harvey would handle his second year post Tommy John surgery. All of that concern was misplaced.
As it turns out, everyone should have been concerned over bone spurs even if Syndergaard won’t admit he has one.Both Syndergaard and Steven Matz have gone from All Star Cy Young caliber seasons to everyone wondering if they need surgery, if their seasons are over. We don’t know when the problems began, but we do know that something is affecting them now.
Starting with Matz, who has admitted an elbow problem, there has been a precipitous drop off in his pitching. In a nine start stretch, Matz was 7-1 with a 1.38 ERA and a 1.007 WHIP while averaging roughly 6.2 innings per start. He was limiting batters to a .222/.266/.282 batting line. At that point, Matz was the favorite for the Rookie of the Year award. He was putting up All Star caliber numbers. His last three starts present a much different pitcher.
In Matz’s last three starts, he is 0-1 with a 6.61 ERA and a 1.470 WHIP while only averaging roughly 5.1 innings per start. Batters are teeing off on him to the tune of a .324/.338/.529 batting line. What is really troubling in each of these starts is that Matz falls apart in the fifth inning. In each of the aforementioned three starts, he has no allowed one run through the first four innings of a game. The worst of it was when the woeful Braves offense chased Matz from the game after allowing six runs in two-thirds of an inning. Now, he’s missing today’s start, and the Mets are debating whether or not he needs surgery.
Syndergaard is a more interesting case as he’s denying the bone spurs rumors, but again like Matz something is wrong. As the season began, all we could talk about what Syndergaard’s new 95 MPH slider, and his emergence as the ace of the Mets pitching staff. Up until his last two starts, Syndergaard was 7-2 with a 1.91 ERA and a 0.965 WHIP. He was averaging roughly 6.2 innings per start. He stymied batters limiting them to a .223/.252/.312 batting line. If Clayton Kershaw were not alive, we would have been talking not just about the Cy Young award but also the possibility that Syndergaard is the best pitcher in baseball.
In Syndergaard’s last two starts we saw something uncharacteristic from him. He struggled. While his pitching line from his June 22nd start against Kansas City didn’t raise any red flags his pitching did. Syndergaard didn’t seem to have the pinpoint command he has had all year, and on a couple of occassions, he crossed up his catcher Rene Rivera. At the time, it was seen as a blip on the radar, but after last night’s start and the reports from yesterday, there is a real reason for concern.
The Nationals, who are no offensive powerhouse themselves, took Syndergaard to the woodshed. Syndergaard only lasted three innings allowing five earned runs. To put it in perspective, Syndergaard only allowed five earned runs in all of April. He had a season high three walks. Runners were stealing bases left and right off of him and Travis d’Arnaud. Now Ron Darling did point out that he didn’t seem in sync with Travis d’Arnaud, but was that really the problem? This is the second straight start Syndergaard has had trouble locating pitches. There are a numbers of explanations why that could be the case, but after the reports of his having a bone spur in his elbow, the bone spur seems to be the most likely reason for Syndergaard’s recent struggles.
Overall, Matz and Syndergaard might be fine and be able to finish out the year. Right now, that proposition is a little hard to believe seeing them struggle recently and hearing news about bone spurs in their elbows. If Syndergaard and Matz are unable to pitch effectively through these bone spurs, the Mets are going to be in trouble. If that is the case, it will be bone spurs, not Tommy John, that will damage the Mets chances of going back to the World Series.