The Energy & the Tantrum

Yesterday's 5-1 win over the Phillies was the first game all year I have been able to watch and it was a great game to have done so. Ironically, it will be a short post, relatively speaking, or as short as I can make it sitting down this morning to write, since I have to make my way upstate for a previously scheduled engagement.

Frank Franklin II/AP
Photo via courant.com

I was able to relax with my aunt and uncle in Rockland County, catching these innings for the first time on the network that houses our Metsies. I've been driving around so much that I have only been able to listen to the games so far this year. 

What I saw on the screen was Bryce Harper get thrown out for the 12th time by a 12th different umpire. I'm not sure if that means he understands he needs to cool it the next time he is in the box with the last ump who threw him out or what. The way I see it, however, he has a history of removing himself with his behavior prematurely from contests his team desperately needs him to continue in. I would be interested to see how many of those contests the team has either won, lost and/or what the outcome was versus where the team was at the time of the tossing.

Other than the tantrum, I saw a team come back from a lethargic road trip looking like how teams should look at home: reinvigorated by their welcoming fan base. The fans that stuck around after the rain delay were clearly the die-hards, and their voices rang loud and clear. Pete Alonso had a ridiculous hit that was such impressive baseballing, taking it the other way down the line to get us on the board. I know I keep saying, "I think this kid is for real," but I think this kid is for real, folks. Hits like that that I know I HAVE to embed 'cause it was so damn impressive make you confident that this slugger may not be a Dave Kingman type one-dimensional player.

Jeff McNeil kept Jeff McHitting, and I couldn't help but McOut with my McPuns on Twitter last night.

McNeil keeps McHitting pic.twitter.com/bJMWcpbLx0

— Sam Maxwell (@THE_SamMaxwell) April 23, 2019

Steven Matz rebounded for an impressive win. He buckled down when the Phillies started attempting a comeback and didn't let the pressure get to his head. He did a good job of relaxing and staying within himself when sometimes he has a tendency in those moments to overthink.

And in what world is Edwin Diaz NOT the closer the Mets thought they were getting? He has been absolutely nasty albeit one or two non-1-2-3 innings. A man named Andy Martino had a tweet saying more or less Diaz is still not the guy the Mets thought they were getting but um, 7 saves and a 1.04 ERA isn't what it used to be, maybe? Uh...

So many impressive moments in a game the Mets needed to show that they could shake off that disappointing road trip and get back to some sound, fun baseball once more, giving this fanbase hope that this team is truly for real. Yeah, it is one game, and maybe it was 'cause it was the first game I've witnessed on screen this year live, but I had loads of fun and reminded myself that sometimes even I need to take a breath, relax and take some baseball in. Maybe I'll actually make it to a game one of these days.

See? I told you it was gonna be a "short" one...uh...

KEEP. IT. MOVING.

LET'S. GO. METS.