3/1/14

Spring Training - Game 2 - Marlins 9, Mets 1




-         John Lannan may have only thrown his fastball up to 88, but he struck out two in the first and had a perfect first inning. Lannan did give up a double in the 2nd to Derek Dietrich, but he ended the 2nd inning with his 3rd strikeout. The fastball stayed in the high 80s… an excellent first outing.

-         Injuries have a way of creating openings that never would have happened without them. Remember last year with Matt den Dekker and Juan Lagares. Den Dekker was supposed to be the 4th outfielder and future CFer and Lagares’ name wasn’t even on the table. This year, the tightness in Eric Young Jr.’s side has given TC and Sandy a chance to evaluate Chris Young as a possible leadoff hitter (BTW… den Dekker had a fabulous diving catch that ended the second inning). Young singled in the 3rd (.500)  for the second game in a row.

-         OF Kirk Nieuwenhuis continued to show that he shouldn’t be written off as the 5th outfielder. He singled in the first inning.

-         Zach Lutz started at third base this game. I’m not sure of his future. Obviously, he is blocked by David Wright and both Wilmer Flores and Josh Satan offer the Mets depth on the 25-man. In Vegas, Eric Campbell and recently signed Jairo Perez could squeeze him out there also.

-         Kyle Farnsworth pitched the 3rd inning… with one out, Austin Barnes went 3-2 and then homered to left field... Jake Marisnick singles, steals second… crazy inning included a walk and Taylor Teagarden throwing out an attempted steal at second… the bottom line is Farnsworth got out of the inning giving up only one run (9.00).

-         Six of the first nine Mets batters struck out.

-         Scott Rice pitched the 4th inning… a  very efficient inning… pop out to first… strike out… one, two,  three…

-         Well, there was more fuel added to the Davis-Duda  fire in the bottom of the fourth when Lucas Duda homered to left field off the top of the berm.

-         John Church pitched the 5th… shaky start for Church’s first big camp appearance…  single…wild  pitch…  HBP… one good ground ball could get Church out o this inning… another wild pitch…3rd wild pitch scores run… and inning finally ends thowing out runner trying to steal home. Not what you would call the best first impression, but every young pitcher goes through the butterfly stage of major league pitching. Church will learn and rebound from this…

-         Den Dekker singled in the 5th, setting up a ‘Captain’-‘D.D.’ battle for that 5th outfield position.

-         Josh Edgin pitched the 6th iing and wasn’t helped by a single and an error by Duda, which was followed by a two-run scoring single by Reed Johnson… all with no out  (you have to start to wonder if Edgin might have begun to ‘reach the peaks’ of his potential)…  a walk, another hit, a throwing error by den Dekker, two more runs and the nightmare continues… nightmare ends with 5-R, 4-ER, 36.00

-         Ryan Reid pitched the 7th inning… Reid did have two strikeouts, but he also yielded the 8th run of what is becoming a miserable game…

-         The only good news is we’re now going to see some of the more talented players come up to bat…

-         Juan Centeno flies out… Cory Vaughn flies out…

-         Cory Mazzoni pitched the 8th…  Anthony Seratelli switched over from second base to shortstop… and the ‘1st time to Big Boy Camp’ butterflies came out again with a walk to the first batter… ollowed by another walk… but he got out of the inning with a strikeout and nice catch by Dustin Lawley (0.00).

-         Danny Muno walked… Brandon Nimmo flies out to left… Cesar Puello walks (OBP!)…

-         Vic Black pitched the 9th… ground out…fly out…single…Muno error (3rd Met error in game)… then RBI single… (God, let this game end)… couldn’t they bat Jordany Valdespin and we could get Black to hit him? Oh, he’s not on the Marlin Big Boy roster… a walk loads them up… inning thankfully ends.

-         9th inning rally… Matt Clark strikes out… Dustin Lawley pops out… ah, forgettabout it…


-         Marlins 9, Mets 1

1 comment:

Herb G said...

Good thing ST W-L record means nothing. Even individual performance doesn't mean much, since players are often working on new things. (See Ike Davis BA last spring.)

That said, some things still stand out and are heartening, like:

The Ike-Lucas matchup. Lucas really looks locked in this early, but his glove may do him in. Ike is looking good too.

The Capt-dD matchup could be meaningful too, with both of them off to fast starts. It may all be for naught, though, because if Ike is the 1B, Duda cold very well be the "5th OF" for his power off the bench.

Competition for the 5th spot in the rotation appears to be motivating each candidate to excel. Lannan today, Montero and deGrom yesterday. Can't wait to see Dice-K and Jenrry.

If Edgin falters, could Leathersich make the OD roster? I wonder if Lannan might have some influenceon that decision. Actually, neither of them is that effective against lefties, and isn't that what a LHRP is all about?

There were enough butterflies among the first timers today to give a lepidopterist an orgasm.