A lot has been written about the benefits of winning. Vince Lombardi said, “Winning isn’t
everything. It’s the only thing.” Kobe Bryant opined, “Winning takes precedence
over all. There’s no gray area. No almosts.” Tiger Woods offered up, “Winning
solves everything.” (Well, except
perhaps getting caught cheating on your wife.)
Winning is on my mind since 2017 was all about losing and
opening weekend in 2018 is showing what happens when timely hitting, long balls,
baserunning (!!!!) and good pitching can help propel the team into the W
column. No one expects the team to go 162-0, but winning 2 out of 3 against a decent team is a welcome start indeed.
So far the Mets are demonstrating some good signs in the
short sample. Robert Gsellman has been
effective in his new role as a reliever.
The catching tandem has produced as it did during Spring Training. Yoenis Cespedes flexed his longball
muscle. Jeurys Familia has notched a couple
of strong end-of-game performances. Amed
Rosario is looking far less overmatched than he did last season. Even Adrian Gonzales seemed to come to
life. The struggling Juan Lagares managed five hits in his two starts for the ailing Brandon Nimmo (who himself went 2/3 with walk in his lone start).
Now it’s too soon to give full credit for these changes to
the new manager, Mickey Callaway, but the man does deserve some kudos for
pulling the right strings in his debut at the helm. He got ten strikeouts out of Noah Syndergaard
then wisely yanked him from the game in sub-50s temperatures instead of leaving
him in, subjecting him to overuse and injury.
It’s early and things can change – such as injuries to
Anthony Swarzak – but the team got off to the quick start that it needed to
help erase the bad taste of 2017 from the fans’ mouths. Enjoy it while it lasts.
9 comments:
Snowing heavily this morning, but it is the Yanks who have the home opener in the afternoon; the Mets face a night game tonight and tomorrow at Citifield, by which time the snow will be gone. But it will be just 41 degrees, albeit with low wind; I wonder if the cold will affect Harvey's feel - I know it would affect me.
Matz apparently was getting squeezed by the ump - he needs to relax. He threw well enough, but gave up the same number of runs as Thor, but Thor got all the offensive support.
Lagares and Nimmo get on 9 times in 3 games - crazy, man, crazy.
Quiz question for today: how many pitches did Mets' pitchers throw?
Ans. 208. WOW
Conforto may suit up tonight, though I expect the Mets to hold up on him a couple of days until due to cold weather.
Still, what do you do if Nimmo, A-Gon, and Lagares keep hitting up a storm?
Hint - none of these guys can play second.
Conforto is not eligible to come off DL until the 5th
I just heard Yanks' opener is cancelled. Supposedly, they would then open at 4 PM tomorrow - except the News 12 guy said it would be raining tomorrow and Wednesday. Stuff that usually happens to the Mets, although they are impacted too, but I'd guess can play tonight. Yanks usually get 70 and sunny. Mets get to play in nor'easters.
It will be a nice problem to have if they are getting production out of the outfielders and 1st base. Ride the hot hands for awhile and then see if you can induce a trade if you think it will help the team.
Joe -
Thanks for clearing that up.
Our CURRENT 2Bman is doing just fine, but as I said last week someone must go when 4to is activated. Unless someone is traded or DL'd by then, it looks to be Jose or Evans. Callaway LOVES Evans, so it could be Jose leaving. The clock is ticking.
Tonight's game is off. Single admission DH July 9th.
Well, a Swarzak DL stint is a wash with a return of Vargas (pushing Lugo to the pen). That would indeed seem to make Evans and Reyes the likely targets, but I think the salary of Reyes will dictate he stays vs. the minimum wage of Evans unless a trade can be arranged.
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