Through Friday's game on March 24, spanning 29 games, there has been a lot of good things happening with the Mets squad.
Some strange things, too.
It often takes a strange person to point out strange things, and I qualify, strangely enough.
So what are some of those things?
John Mora showing David Wright how it's done: Mr. Mora, a low-visibility, scrappy outfielder, who everyone is asking questions about (like "Who's he?") is 5 for 9 with a double and triple, a walk, and just a single K. The Captain? 1 single in 4 at bats before another injury impinged on his ability to show us all if he is done or not. Maybe we need more o' Mora and less of Wrighta.
Infielders who played and infielders who didn't: Super duper young Andres Giminez gets 6 at bats in 5 games. After a mostly injured 2016, almost as young 19 year old SS Luis Carpio goes 3 for 7 this spring. Blake Tiberi, who hit just .235 with the Cyclones in his debut last year, goes 1 for 3. Luis Guillorme snagged a flying bat and got in NINETEEN games for El Metsos, making Lou Gehrig nervous and hitting .281. David Thompson made his limited appearances count, going 3-4. BUT...where for art thou, Eudor Garcia? You were nowhere to be found this spring. Nor did we see Jeff McNeil.
Flunking the spring exam: two IF guys vying for visibility, Matt Reynolds (3-32) and LJ Mazzilli (4-22), made us wish Bartolo Colon was still here to take their at bats.
Power Transfusion? Travis Taijeron has had a nice hitting spring, at .297, but the Mets' most prolific minor extra base hitter managed not a single homer through March 24. Luis Guillorme, up until now their LEAST prolific minor league extra base knock guy, manages to produce a triple and a homer, when he'd only produced 2 triples and a homer in over 1,400 minor league plate appearances. They both, however, co-lead the team with 19 games played, along with slugging Michael Conforto.
C'mon, Jay, this hitting stuff is SO EASY: Kyle Johnson, Kevin Kaczmarski, the aforementioned John Mora, Jayce Boyd, and Desmond Lindsay are struggling collectively, hitting just .560 (14 for 25). Jay Bruce, who hit .219 after he became a Met last year, was a robust 7-35 this spring (.200). He makes more dough for one game than the other 5 make for a full year. Just sayin'. And Kaczmarski leads the team in cars entombed by Saran Wrap this spring - some of you' have been paying attention and know what I'm babbling about.
Throwing out the garbage: Some fans will scream out at the game, "strike this guy out - he's GARBAGE". Well, so far this spring, the 3 Mets' prime catchers (d'Arnaud, Rivera, and Plawecki) have thrown a would-be baserunner out - problem is, the other 20 who tied made it safely. So I threw out their first names. The other masked guys, Tomas Nido and Jorge Carillo? Gunned down 3 of 5, thank you for asking. Maybe it's because both of their names end in the letter O?
The Errors of His Ways: Phil Evans, who had error problems last year, leads the Mets in errors this spring. Bad? Nah - he leads with just 3 errors, so don't panic, people, especially when he is hitting .333.
Eight is Enough: Nice TV show, but for the Mets, 6 steals in 29 games? NOT enough.
That's enough Strange Spring Things for now.
Strangely, I bet you, dear reader, would agree.
Strange that d'Armand reportedly threw out 4 of 6 in the minors game that Jake pitched in a few days ago.
ReplyDeleteStrange also is the turn of events with Harvey and Wheeler ascending and late 2016 and early spring hero Seth Lugo descending in a hail of long balls.
It is a strange game.