Paul Articulates – Two spring days of enjoyment

We may be writers, but first and foremost we are baseball fans.  For a baseball fan that lives in the northeastern United States, an opportunity to head to Florida to watch a few days of spring training baseball in great weather is pure ecstasy.  I had that chance last week, and I will share some of it with you today.

Day 1 was at Clover Park in St. Lucie, Florida. It was 82 degrees F that afternoon but had cooled to around 76 degrees when I entered the park an hour and a half before game time.  The park is beautiful, the field is neatly groomed and every seat has a great view.  The backfields stretch out beyond the outfield fences, dotted with palm trees.  The stadium attendees are the friendliest, happiest people that you could run into when they are “at work”.  As an usher named Robert said, “Our job is to make people happy”.

The baseball was great.  Several things impressed me about the Mets as they bested the Nationals 3-1.  The pitching was very sound.  Jose Quintana had a little bit of a rough start, but settled down quickly to hold the Nats without an earned run over three innings while striking out six.  One of the reasons that no earned runs were scored was Francisco Alvarez, who over the course of this game threw out three of three runners trying to steal second.  His mechanics were fluid and his throws were deadly accurate.  Alvarez also looked great at the plate, blasting a 408 foot home run to left that not only cleared the wall, but also the beach house bar in left field.  Quintana was followed by six relievers who all pitched scoreless ball.  Josh Walker looked very strong in the eighth inning.  It may be too early to credit the pitching lab, but all the Mets pitchers just seemed to control the strike zone much better than last year.

Day 2 was a blessing.  The Mets were scheduled to play in Jupiter at the Marlins spring training home.  On days when the team travels for night games, they have batting practice at Clover Park in the early afternoon.  I decided that it would be worth a look, so I headed to the back fields where I was surprised to discover that the Mets had invited the Marlins’ entire minor league roster to play some scrimmage games.  There were three games being played simultaneously on three fields.  A closer look showed that the dugouts were staffed with coaches from A ball on one field, AA ball on another, and AAA ball on the third.  Several batteries rotated through the fields to get some work for pitchers that were not scheduled for the evening games, so Brooks Raley, Phil Bickford, Omar Narvaez were seen.  

I am not making any predictions here, but it was very telling to see what players were putting time in on what fields now that we are halfway through the spring training period.  On the AAA field, Jeremiah Jackson (3B), Jett Williams (SS), and D’Andre Smith (2B) played most of the game in the infield.  On the AA field, William Lugo (3B), LuisAngel Acuna (SS), and Wyatt Young (2B) played most of the game in the infield.  They also worked out Mateo Gil at first base while JT Schwartz took reps at DH and in left field.  Drew Gilbert played center.

At Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, the Mets also got the best of the Marlins 3-1.  Pete Alonso hit a no-doubter over the center field fence and Francisco Alvarez had another strong day at the plate with a double and another long homer to left.  Alvarez looked like he was having fun, and if he maintains the relaxed composure he could have a monster year.  Another thing that impressed me in the Marlins game was the outing that Jose Butto had.  He has always had some pretty good breaking stuff, but in this game he was consistently hitting 94mph on his fastball while mixing in the off-speed pitches that were 10-13mph slower.  He threw three strong innings and gave up one earned run that was a generous scorer’s decision.  Luis Severino started the game and gave up three hits while striking out four.  It seemed that the batters were either missing his pitches entirely, or hitting them hard so I believe that there are some adjustments necessary before he is in form.  On the offensive side besides the two homers, Jose Iglesias had a strong game with two hits.  He also showed some very deft glove work in the field as a replacement for Lindor at short.  When Iglesias and Yolmer Sanchez turn a double play, it is a thing of beauty.

To me, the entire couple of days were a thing of beauty, as many of you New York fans can relate to.  Something about interrupting months of grey, cold winter with two days of sunshine, green grass, the crack of the bat, and the pop of leather just brings a smile to my face.  Let’s go Mets!