Reese Kaplan -- The Mets Have Become a Dickensian Tale

As Charles Dickens once said, “It was the best of times and it was the worst of times.”  For the NY Mets season of "Great Expectations" it was a deserving (and thus surprising) announcement made yesterday that Jacob deGrom, Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil were all named to the NL All Star Team.  Given the pitching exploits of deGrom, the power of Alonso and the Tony Gwynn-like hitting of Jeff McNeil (who did so while being thrust into the unaccustomed role of outfielder), they not only are appropriate choices but for once the best of the best for the league, not just the mandatory selection from any bad team.  

Previous "old" rookie Scott Rice

In the realm of recent positives came the rookie debut pitching performance of 29 year old Chris Mazza.  He performed admirably in relief of Steve Matz who was shut down after the long rain delay, hurling 4 IP while giving up 5 hits but just a single run, walking no one and striking out 2.  His major league debut ERA is a tidy 2.25 and although he didn’t overwhelm people with power, the tall righty had a performance that was probably everything he’d hoped it would be (and more).  When you pitched all over the minors and independent leagues for the Twins, Marlins, Mariners and Marlins again before landing in the Mets organization, just reaching the majors before your 30^th birthday had to be quite special.  To have pitched well enough that people were questioning why you weren’t left in for another inning (before the bullpen customarily imploded once again) probably made Mazza feel the experience was quite surreal having toiled since 2012 to get here.   

Lost in the hoopla of the 1969 anniversary celebration, the rain delay, the 70 minute rain delay and the Seth Lugo meltdown resulting in yet another bullpen-fueled loss was the 2-hit game by Robinson Cano.  It actually was his second 2-hit game in a row.  Baby steps, for sure, but perhaps he’s finally beginning to shake off the "Hard Times" of his season-long slump and demonstrate the All-Star performance that landed him that ten-year deal from the Mariners after his great career with the Yankees.  He then followed that up with ANOTHER two-hit game on Sunday night, but got nailed on the wrist and who knows what that will do to his fledgling comeback.

Then the worst of times resulted in a pure Metsian snafu that a high school intern likely couldn’t execute, let alone a so-called professional organization.  The Mets did a very nice memorial tribute to the gentlemen from the 1969 team like Tommie Agee who sadly are no longer with us.  Seldom-used outfielder Jim Gosger and 2-inning pitcher Jesse Hudson made the video which announcer Gary Cohen said “brought a tear to his eye”.  The problem is that both of these gentlemen are very much alive!  You really can’t make this stuff up!  The Mets have already reached out to Gosger to issue an apology and were attempting to reach Hudson to do the same.  You really can’t help shaking your head in disbelief that a thoroughly planned event didn’t have someone checking the veracity of the information provided before even committing to make the video let alone showing it.  Oh, and the coup de grace was displaying Jesse Hudson's name as "Jessie".  The Mets organization reached a new low and deserves all of the ridicule coming from the local and national press for how they handled this celebration.