No Colorado Rocky Mountain High on Friday night. That ain't dandruff tumbling out of the skies there. Let it NOT snow, let it NOT snow, let it NOT snow. And in a mountainous area where there is an occasional bear bite, this weekend is more likely to result in frostbite. And to think - it hit 90 in Denver on Thursday.
But squint hard and you may see a Polar Bear rolling around in the snow at the ballpark, the one the Mets were scheduled to play at tonight just a month sort of the official start of summer.
To make up for this mini-blizzard cancellation, there will be a Saturday split doubleheader, started by Carlos "Cookie" Carrasco and David "Drumstick" Peterson.
(I make up nicknames sometimes, usually involving food).
Meanwhile:
Frankie Lindor in the past two games decided to give Brandon Nimmo a run for his money: 3 hits, 4 walks, and a HBP. It nicely jumped his season on base % from a sub-par .315 to a career-equaling .343.
I'd take that base acquisition propensity from him, along with his characteristic hustle and potential for superior defense. And, unlike deGrom, Max, May, McCann, and Megill, if "the Buck stops here" says, "I want you out there today", only Lindor can say, "YES, SIR!"
So ya gotta like that. Time to get 110% behind the Mighty Lindor. Because I sense we are about to get 110% from him.
Jeff McNeil is tied with Rafael Devers, Vlad Guerrero, Anthony Rendon, and George Springer for 33rd in the majors in RBIs, despite hitting down in the order fairly frequently and having just 1 HR. He also is 13th in the majors in batting average. He gets an MVS award in my book:
MOST VALUABLE SQUIRREL
Polar Bear Pete is just 18th in slugging %, but first in RBIs with a whopping 36. I like that a lot more than if he was first in slugging % and 18th in RBIs. And, if he had hit game winning HR not in dead-air Citifield but in the rarified air of Denver, that ball would be entering Nevada air space just about now.
Perhaps Escobar, Smith, and JD Davis will have left their hearts in San Francisco, but found their long ball strokes in Denver this weekend.
Edwin Diaz no doubt can hit 110 MPH on the radar gun in the thin air of Denver.
He is currently my co-MVP of the team, with Pete Alonso.
We all love Sugar. At least I do.
The whole Mets team is 5th in runs scored and first in on base %, while toiling in a hitter-unfriendly park. Good for them. Remarkably, though, the Nationals in road games have scored 102 runs in 19 games, while the Mets have scored 88 in 19 games. Head-scratcher. That's baseball.
Mets' pitchers are tied for 4th in ERA, and are second in Ks. Nice.
Let's just keep winning series, people, while waiting for the Cy Young hurlers continue to mend up and rejoin the Mets by July.
MINORS:
SYRACUSE: Tom Szapucki threw a perfect first inning - and was then pulled. Either hurt, or getting ready to be called up to the Mets. I am guessing the latter.
Syracuse hitters won't go on a hunger strike, so they resort to a base hit strike instead. Shut out on 2 hits tonight. If you remove the miraculous 25 for 71 hitting in AAA by neophyte wunderkind Wyatt Young, Syracuse is hitting slightly below .200 this season.
BINGHAMTON: The Ponies don't have pitchers batting, but I wish they had hitters who could hit like former Mets pitcher Tyler Pill. Pill ended his minor league career hitting a Jeff McNeil-like .301/.358/.408, and fanned just once every 7 plate appearances (35 times in 245 times up).
Instead, Matt Winaker and Antoine Duplantis, after tonight, were hitting .120 and .119 (19 for 159). Their goal seems to be, as best I can tell, to hit at least .250 - combined. Baffling.
Jose Butto was not having a good outing tonight. 4-2 loss. 3 hits. Like Syracuse, this team has an aversion to hitting.
BROOKLYN: yet another night game postponed after beautiful weather during the day. Two recent games were fogged out - that's right, fog - after a beautiful day. Snake-bit.
ST. LUCIE: First time up, Omar de los Santos singled for the tough L-Mets, promptly followed by his 21st steal in 22 attempts. Meanwhile, demoted Khalil Lee got a hit and a walk his first two times up, but was caught stealing - twice. Oddly, after stealing 53 of 65 in his last Royals' minor league season in 2019, he is just 13 of 25 in swipes since. Remarkable.
Dominic Hamel was surprisingly yanked after just 1.2 IP, in which he allowed 3 runs on two hits and a walk. Maybe the manager wanted to avoid a shaky outing getting worse. Ultimately, a 7-3 loss. Lucie can't win them all.
Plenty to chew on.
Enjoy the drumsticks.
11 comments:
My thoughts...
- Starting today, the Mets will play the next 31 games against teams with a combined .552 winning percentage. Considering our pitching woes, I would be thrilled with 16 wins here.
- From the pen of Dove... there seems to be some life in Mark Vientos' bat. So far, in May, he is hitting .282/.378/.641/1.019.
- Regarding the draft look for a plethora of junior college pitches being noon late Day 2 and all day Day 3. At last count, I had 20+ pitchers throwing 95 or more.
- The Athletic posted their new mock draft and had Arizona catcher Daniel Susac at 1.11 and Alabama LHP Connor Preilipp at 1.14. Picks based on best player available, though I would have past on a catcher and moved to the best available outfielder.
- Ex-Met 2B Joe Panik retired
- From Twitter friend, Russ O'Brien, Mets Jeff McNeil went into the Rockies series ranked 7th in the NL in BA.
- The Mets are scouting A's pitcher Frankie Montas and Cincy pitcher Tyler Mahle.
- Mets signed pitcher Trevor Cahill to a minor league contract.
- I'm typing this around 2:30pm and they just postponed tonight's game..It's currently 95 here with a heat index of 101 and the Mets are snowed out. I can't even process this. The last time I was snowed out was at a private party at a record company in the 80s
- Baseball writing legen, Roger Angill, passes at 101.
- Cookie and Williams go today. Tom says it's Cookie and Peterson. The whole series is chop suey
I am NOT one of the Lindor haters?
Would I have made that deal?
No. Gimenez would be my team controlled shortstop right now
But Lindor is here and I love his energy and will support him 100% going forward
I would continue.to play Jeff as much as I can in right
This would create a smooth transition of Mauricio to second.when he is ready
Re: Pete
He has the team on his back and is currently putting up MVP consideration numbers
He loves playing first so keep him happy there
As for Dom, put the word out to the other 29 teams that he is available for an SP
Re: Szapucki
I was always a big fan but I have lost that because there must be a reason the Mets baby him so much.
Put.him in the pen to save what little he has left.
I would wonder how snow would even stick to the ground, given that it was 90 degrees the day before. I think I'd go nuts living in that kind of weather.
It reminds me of a vacation I took back in June 1994. Started out in Boise Idaho, where it was in the low to mid 90s. From there, we drove up to Kalispell Montana (about a 12-hour trip), where it was in the high 50s. Going into Glacier National Park, the road was closed over the mountains, where there was a blizzard. When we went along Route 2 instead, we went through snow. Then, we came back to New York, where it was in the 90s again.
Going to (now) my first two Brooklyn Cyclones games tomorrow. Hope they don't get fogged out. :)
I lived in Denver for a year, going through radar school in the Air Force.
The sticking doesn't last long.
Trust me. There will be nothing visible by Sunday
I was looking at the schedule this morning. Yeah, it's going to be a rough stretch. But after the all-star break, it really eases up. With deGrom/Scherzer back then and whatever trade acquisition we get, we should be able to pile up wins. It's a good thing we built such a solid cushion to start the year.
We are.over 7 games up on teams that will not go undefeated in the next 30 games
Pray for 15 wins here
Tough schedule. Can Peterson, Williams, and Szapucki tide us over. Thought I heard Megill might start in a week.
Megill is now throwing and will be back during this 31 game stretch
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