Cart (0)

Play Ball!

Posted by Nineteen Eighty-Sixed on

This past week brought us actual baseball games being played for the first time in four months. Although they don’t count for real, we got to see newcomers like Francisco Lindor, James McCann, and Trevor May in a Mets uniform for the first time, and that counts for a lot.

Excitement continues to buzz around camp, and among fans, as pitchers work on new stuff, and position players work on their fielding and timing at the plate. We even got Gary, Keith, and Ron back in action for a televised game on Tuesday.

These are only the first warmup steps for a full 162 game marathon, and we can’t put too much stock in any results. But boy is it great to hear the crack of the bat and the pop of the mitt again.

So let’s play ball!

DISLOCATED RECAP
Hey, how have the Mets been doing?

🟠 Monday 3/1 - at Marlins - L 2-0 
The Mets early inning pitchers showed some promise in their Grapefruit League opener, with Harol Gonzalez, Sean Reid-Foley, and Stephen Tarpley combining for 3 perfect frames.
Francisco Lindor made his long-awaited debut in a Mets uniform, and went 0-2 at the plate before being subbed out for prospect Ronny Mauricio.
The Mets didn’t get much offense going in this one, and they made some base running blunders which cut short any possible rallies. Lead-off man, Brandon Nimmo went 2-3 on the day with a strikeout, but committed one of the above mentioned base running mistakes at the outset of the game.

🟠 Tuesday 3/2 - vs Astros - W 2-0 
Stroman and Yamamoto each pitched 2 scoreless innings, with Str0 making his perfect with 2 Ks. Str0 also debuted a new pitch, he’s calling a “split change”, which was naaasty!
McCann threw out an attempted steal, which is a welcome sight!
Nimmo collected another hit, and Jeff McNeil hit a solo shot in the 2nd. Albert Almora Jr, who is fighting for a spot on the big league roster, also went yard in the 5th to score the game’s other run.

🟠 Wednesday 3/3 - at Cardinals - L 14-9 
As the NFL score indicates, Mets pitchers, particularly Jared Eickhoff, Jacob Barnes, and Marcel Renteria took a beating from the Cards. Not to worry though, because unless things go very very wrong during the regular season, we won’t be relying on these guys for the big league staff.
The Mets started mostly bench players for this one, but they still managed to be productive in scoring runs.
Kevin Pillar, Luis Guillorme, and Tomas Nido all featured prominently in the early going, which points towards the Mets having quality depth at several positions. JD Davis also hit the ball well, which is great to see.

🟠 Thursday 3/4 - vs Nats - W 8-4 
David Peterson got the start, and pitched well for his two innings. But the game plan for this exhibition was to feature the bulk of the bullpen arms. It was a mixed bag, with Loup, May, Tarpley, and Reid-Foley looking decent, Familia looking wild, and Betances and Gsellman struggling through their innings. 
Nimmo continued to get on base, going 2-2 with a lead off dinger and a walk. And Pete Alonso cleared the bases in the 5th with an opposite field grand slam.

🟠 Saturday 3/6 - at Astros - W 6-1
Jake got the start and did Jake things, giving up 1 hit, 1 walk, and striking out 3 in 2 innings, while repeatedly making the radar gun flash 99.
Edwin Diaz breezed through his inning with the help of some slick fielding by Lindor, and Miguel Castro, Tommy Hunter, and Mike Montgomery all pitched well.
Alonso and McCann knocked in some early runs, Dom hit a bomb, and Pillar had an RBI single, which hopefully bodes well for production up and down the Mets lineup. 
Even the prospects got in on the offensive action with Khalil Lee scoring a run, and Pete Crow-Armstrong scoring on a Ronny Mauricio single.


CAUGHT IN A RUNDOWN
All the news from this past week, which you’ve probably already seen by now.

🟠 The Mets announced that they’ll be wearing number 41 patches on their sleeves for the 2021 season to honor the late, great Tom Seaver. It’s a nice touch by the ballclub to extend the tribute to The Franchise into this year, when fans will return to the stands to appreciate the gesture in person.

🟠 There was some, uh... “controversy” about Francisco Lindor’s comments that he prefers not to be called “Frankie”, thinking it’s a lazy nickname. A Cleveland fan called him lazy for never having spoken up on his preference earlier. Francisco responded in agreement, although that’s really unnecessary. But let’s just move on, and call him what he should be called, “All-Star Shortstop, Francisco Lindor, of the New York Mets” 💙🧡

🟠 Luis Rojas announced that Jacob deGrom will be the opening day starter this year. No surprise here, but Jake joins some elite company in being only the fourth Met to start at least three straight opening days. Seaver, Gooden, and Santana were the others. Jake told reporters he tries not to think about that, so he can focus on his job, but he’s of course honored to be mentioned with those pitching greats.

 

TWEET THE METS

🟠 Trevor May starts the cheer 🗣

🟠 Str0 can’t believe his own performance  😱 (this is truly impressive though)

🟠 Lindor continues to show off his style with some custom batting gloves 🧤

🟠 Twitter’s favorite backstop, Tomas Nido, is advocating for his teammates to get paid 💰

🟠 Noah is really into this branded sponsorship 🤑

🟠 We’ll see you at Citi, Steve! 🏟

0 comments

Leave a comment

Please note, comments must be approved before they are published