By metstradamus | April 6, 2021 2:46 am
My Opening Day posts usually have more fanfare than the what this one is about to provide. Then again, Opening Days in general have more fanfare than what this one provided, thanks to Major League Baseball wiping out the Mets/Nationals series due to the Nats’ COVID outbreak instead of making them use their taxi squad from their alternate site, because obviously those exist for no reason whatsoever.
But I digress.
This game, which was the Mets Grand Opening and a very non descript Game 4 for the Phillies, was pointed in the wrong direction in the 4th inning. The Mets grabbed a 2-0 lead thanks to RBI singles by James McCann and Jacob deGrom, and had the bases loaded for Kevin Pillar. Matt Moore, who hadn’t pitched in two seasons was yanked from the game for a righthander. Now keep in mind that Rojas had Pillar in the game because of the way he hit lefties:
Pillar is significantly better against LHP in his career, and was way better against lefties in 2020, albeit while reaching numbers in a short season that were probably unsustainable. So with the righty in, it was the perfect time to go to Dom Smith and go for the throat. When you consider that Smith’s defensive deficiencies are muted in a short ballpark like Citizens Shoebox, and that you have another outfielder you can go to for defense in Albert Almora, you can afford to do this. But Rojas stuck with Pillar and paid the price as Pillar grounded into a double play to end the threat.
Realmuto got the hit. Hopkins was on base.
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