The thing is...he really DID bring the hammer down. I unfortunately wasn't able to view how sick he pitched in the moment, letting Howie and Josh wax poetically regarding the filth that Mr. Syndergaard was bringing. According to the video proof that SNY captured and cut down into a fun-filled minute 20, to think that THAT SET UP HARVEY DAY is something that can tickle the Orange and Blue fancy of Metsian folk all over.
Call them the Bounce Back Kids, because that's what they've been, and it takes a day like this and all the interviews after to be reminded that we're not talking about Rod Barajas giving it the ol' college try, or Tim Redding reminding us why you don't inexplicably trot journeyman pitchers out for a photo op. These are mostly very VERY talented young players who are ready and determined to not only make a name for themselves but make a name while lifting the Mets across their chest out of an ugly era where what felt like 100 years of heartbreak was compacted into the matter of 6 years...and go ahead and throw in 15 years considering how Amazin' the letdown was in 2009 after 2002-2004 occurred. You also have some able veterans with a lot left in their career to prove. These aren't your Manny Acosta Metropolitans. This team belongs to this great young pitching, and some amazin' bats that will follow over the coming years...and Juan Lagares.
It was ironic and unsettling that one of those hopeful anchors of our newest era made direct contact with what was considered in the summer of 2007 to be hopeful anchor for the Metsian future, but Carlos Gomez was traded in the Johan Santana trade, inadvertently bringing on the 1st No-Hitter in Mets history. The scary moment between the two young players yesterday also ended up showing off how classy athletes can sometimes be with how they spoke to each other post-game. Thankfully, Carlos is OK.
And now, the Cardinals. We all hate them. We all know how we perform against them, and at home no less, will go a long way to solidifying how good this team could possibly be. Or whether things will continue to trend south.
The Mets last night had the baseball gods rain them with sunshine. On the night their stud pitcher, Noah Syndergaard, makes an admirable yet unfulfilled and unsupported Major League debut, where the offense sputtered along like an old car that's not really making it anymore, every team in the NL East was handed an L.
The Nationals, still only 2.5 games back, lost to the Diamondbacks 14-6. The Braves, 5 games back, lost on a walk-off to Cincinnati 4-3. The Marlins, 5.5 games back, had Giancarlo Stanton launch one literally out of Dodger Stadium...and then the Dodgers won 11-1. And the Phillies, back 9.5 games, lost to Pitt 7-2. ...And the Yankees lost to Tampa 4-2... So, even though the offense continues to be attrocious, the problems weren't magnified by everybody else creeping up. And as I said, a stud pitcher made an admiral debut.
It's me. Matt Harvey. Oh. Some of you haven't heard of me? Well don't worry. By June or so, you will have. You see, my team, The New York Mets, had started looking listless. Though they played well without getting the winning runs in those last 2 Miami games, unfortunately, our first loss at home was suffered because of miscues up the middle. Our team, well positioned after one month, exACTLY where I wanted us to be when I went on my quest to return from the darkness of the DL and lead our team towards the promised land, had not looked good over the last week of April, while the divisional opponents that were "predicted" to give us the most problems had started playing a much crisper brand of baseball. One of those divisional opponents had beaten us SOUNDLY on Thursday night, and they had driven in a ridiculous amount of runs over the last 3 games. They were sending a man I very well know to be SICK at pitching a baseball, and that man was Max Scherzer. How could I give up a run? There was nowhere and no place that I could possibly give up a run to a team that had been raking the past 3 games. Why would I do that? There would be no logical sense to it. So, our veteran of the team, Mr. Cuddyer, teed one the other way off Maxwell, and later on, Mr. Werth stumbled on what would have been a 2-0 sac fly. But the shoes went every which way. And I pumped my batfist into the air as we made it what would be a 4-0 win. Because there would be no logical sense for us to go 15-9. Because things have changed around here.
By the time the bases were loaded in the 9th inning, with the game having long before reached the point of feeling there was no way we would come back, I was actually hoping the Nats would blow the whole thing wide open. We and the Mets had been so high only more than a week ago, it's good to have that opposite feeling so you never want to feel that again for the rest of the season.
Both I, we and the Mets know that's probably not going to happen, but it's time to do all that is possible to prevent more like that from occurring.
Though a small step in the grand scheme of things, calling up the red-hot 2nd baseman Dilson Herrera was a proper reactive move to the lack of middle defense that has cost us games. Though they will have some things to figure out in a week or so when David Wright comes back, they saw an opportunity to get more offense all around in the starting lineup, relegating Eric "Soup" Campbell to his bench position he will most likely hold down for the remainder of the season. Though I'm THIS close to being ready to not having Daniel Murphy on this team, if not already on the other side, wanting to package him, Jon Niese and Dillon Gee in a trade, I've seen the "natural" 3rd baseman, as we've been told multiple times, play 3rd base, and you know what? For some reason, the rough gloved Murph is absolutely fine.
The BIG decision that hangs over this team will be what to do with Wilmer Flores if he predictably continues to struggle majorly on defense. And a .266 batting average all year won't cut it. It will be interesting to see how the roster shakes out the next few weeks.
Regardless how much of a letdown the end of April was, it's still unbelievable how well positioned the Mets have put themselves to stay in it. That's why some kind of move had to be made after yesterday. There is a fluidity to this front office and its day-to-day operation that we haven't seen in a long, long time. Hopefully, with new expectations and a higher level of accountability and pressure will take this franchise to another level.
Otherwise, the Wilpons really are seriously fucked.
MANDATORY CREDIT: Noah K. Murray, USA TODAY Sports
Yesterday, for the 2nd #HarveyDay of the year, and one where our ace was feeling under the weather, the place was once again rocking, and it did especially when it was dire. Two vital players had gone down in the 7th inning, and the Marlins were bearing down, having cut the lead to 1, it now being the 9th and a runner on. I will admit, it was the most Metsian angst I had had all week, though it wasn't in 2010 form, or '11, '12, '13, or '14 form. As Greg Prince, whom I like to call the Mets Fan Incarnate, said on Faith and Fear in Flushing when the winning streak had only reached 6, this feels different:
"You can draw parallels and comparisons with previous seasons and their encouraging beginnings. You can project out from the best of the past anything you want. Yet I’m not tempted to. I’ve spent most of my existence keeping close tabs on this franchise and I’m telling you: this feels different.
I feel equally untethered to the unrelenting sour times of the recent past and the occasionally glorious times of the distant past, and I don't mind. I take comfort in knowing it's all back there and that it all informs what we expect and how we react. Trust me, I know where to find it should I need it. This 2015 journey, though, is its own thing: kinda young, kinda now...kinda free, kinda wow."
So, even though everything COULD theoretically fall apart with a runner on and Giancarlo Stanton up with 2 outs, us fans were going to be every bit as confident and involved as every player on the Mets 25-man roster.
It hurt, but we've won 8 straight.
It sucks that I have to say this again, as I did after David Wright went down, but I think this team will once again absorb the blow.
I have to say that I've never seen Citi Field like that. Yes, you may have seen that it was a record crowd closing in on 44,000, but the FEELING of the place, seeing how packed it was, hardly any room in the standing room only tix my cuz and I had, THAT was what yesterday's opening day win was all about.
And that double play in the 9th inning that apparently sent chills down Michael Cuddyer's spine? We ALL felt that.
Now, it's time to get the season REALLY underway. Off I am on the 7 to see Matt Harvey take the Citi Field mound for the first time since August 2013. I expect the place to be off the charts excited once I get there. AND...I'm taking someone who's never been to a ballgame their entire LIFE!!!
The early start surprised me a day or two before the event. But nonetheless, I was prepared to tune in at 1. Though I didn't prepare properly. It wasn't like I wasn't awake for a sufficient enough of time to plug my phone in and get a proper charge. I just didn't. Thinking I could get it done with 31% left. I left E 18th and Church in Brooklyn listening to Howie and Josh, then eventually finding myself on Ocean Ave when the Brooklyn CITY Historian Ron Schweiger called me about the 11am ET podcast taking place today with myself and him talking about the NYC transit system and...sorry. I lost my digital breath there. But the gist of it was after I got off the phone with him, and found Harvey in his first inning striking out Bryce Harper, I was turning the Ocean Ave corner that connects to Flatbush, where the Ebbets Field Apartments come into frame, and where the once-upon-a-time ballpark came into frame.
On Flatbush, directly looking at the Ebbets plot across the botanical garden's way, is the Lefferts House, which you see here. I got the picture off, and at 19%, Howie and Josh faded, and my battery completely died, as I was in the middle of walking the long Flatbush stretch of Prospect Park. So, completely off the grid, I marched up Flatbush Ave, passing Grand Army Plaza, finally going underground at its 2/3 stop towards Manhattan. At some point underground, completely unaware of what was going on above, and miles away in DC, I asked someone with a charged phone what the time was (it was the older 3 train. No time readings.) It was 2:01. Nice. Who knows what time I finally reached the game I was searching for, as well as the power source I needed, but before I did, I walked the 42nd St strip of Times Sq, from 7th to 8th, passing the Yankees Clubhouse store where I wondered whether they had the game on (I glanced. They didn't), stopping for money at 9th, pausing at the Dalton's windows to catch a glimpse of the score, only to find a commercial. I then scurried to Rudy's Bar & Grill, right next to Two Boots Pizza Hell's Kitchen, of where I am employed, and whom have graciously given me tickets to April 14, 2015 at Citi Field, where, if you remember, they have our great pizza.
When I arrived at the literal wooden bar, in my bright big-logoed orange Mets shirt, I asked a guy with a Brooklyn Cyclones hat what the score was. 4-0. I rejoiced. I ordered two hot dogs for breakfast, hold the buns, with sides of ketchup and mustard. And I chomped down, watched the game, and had my hot dogs with some Matzos. And of course, A Brooklyn Lager. And combined with a great night in Two Boots, it was a perfect #HarveyDay. I can't wait for the next one.
