SAVAGE VIEWS – OPENING WEEKEND OBSERVATIONS
Last week my
wife and I were in Venice Florida visiting friends. After a long and dreadful winter, it’s nice to
have baseball back. Here are a few things that caught my eye this opening
weekend.
WE
ARE NUMBER 22
That’s
right. The Met’s starting staff is ranked # 22 behind the Brewers at #21 per
Bleacher Report. The Yankees are at #13. The trio of Megill, Holmes and Canning
have all put together solid outings with our projected two best starters facing
the Marlins over the next couple of days. The Yankees behind Max Fried, Carlos
Rodan and Marcus Stroman, et al. better hope that their monstrous hitting start
continues. Their staff is mediocre at best.
MANAGERIAL
DECISIONS
I’m
convinced that the Mets are in a good place with Mendoza leading the pack.
However, I question a couple of calls made. The decision to have Winker pitch
hit for Torrens in the top of the seventh to lead off the inning was a curious
one. In the ninth with the Mets mounting a possible comeback, Senger’s first
major league at bat came against Hader with predictable results.
In other games, the Dodgers pulled Roki Sasaki in the second inning since he did not have his best stuff. On the other hand, Pat Murphy who was named Manager of the Year last season may be asked to return the trophy.
I fail to understand how
after allowing four home runs in the first inning, three on consecutive
pitches, Nester Cortes was permitted to pitch the second. And then after giving
up a three-run shot in the second inning he was allowed to come out for inning
three. That’s got to rank among the worst decisions of all time. Murphy
followed Cortes with a lefty making his first MLB appearance and the Yankees teed
off.
OLD
FRIENDS
It’s nice to
see Jacob de Grom and Luis Severino off to solid starts. Between the two of
them, they produced eleven innings of shutout ball. It’ll be great if Jake can
resume his path to Cooperstown.
THE
LINEUP
Our improved lineup, including Soto has produced a grand total of 12 hits over the first few days. I have issues with the construction of the lineup. Nimmo has been slotted in the cleanup spot which does not play to his strengths. In my opinion, he should be batting either at the top of the order or at the bottom.
I think his optimum
spot would be in front of Soto with Alonso in the cleanup role. And batting Baty
number 8 is malfeasance. I see that tonight with Lindor out, Marte is leading
off. Kind of makes you wonder.
BACK
TO NUMBER 22
I never realized
the significance of Arron Judge batting behind Soto. Judge is such a feared
hitter that it forced pitchers to throw to Soto. The Mets can employ Soto in a
similar fashion and have either Nimmo or Vientos bat in front of him.
That’s all
for now.
Ray
April 1,
2025
7 comments:
Morning Ray.
Obviously written a day before like Reese does, but he lives in Malaysia. Do you llive in Venice, Italy?
(joke)
Hopegully, last night begins the return of the projected power on this team.
It's the fish again tonight... good chance of this happening.
Who's pitching for them today?
Oh.
Great thoughts, Ray.
Great stuff and by the way do you live in Venice fl?
sorry your visiting I live in Sarasota
I 100% agree with you on the batting order. Against the righties, it should be Lindor-Nimmo-Soto-Alonso-Vientos, or even Baty in the 5 hole ahead of Vientos for the better L-R matchup. Against the lefties, I would flip Nimmo and Vientos. Lindor, Soto and Alonso should always be 1-3-4. If you look up Soto's career splits, his numbers are better as the 3 hitter than in the 2 slot.
R69, good point. In his career, Soto in the 3rd, 4th or 5 spot in the order has been better than second. Would make for a good article.
We live in New Bern, NC, birthplace of Pepsi and home to Nicholas Sparks. Was in Sarasota last Sunday for lunch at Boca's with future DIL.
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