MACK- WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS AND THOUGHTS

 

Okay. Maybe I shouldn't give up on Jonah Tong this early. He opened up the Syracuse season on Friday, giving up one hit and no runs. Still, he threw 31 balls in four innings so I'm not taking
my knee off his neck yet (wish I knew how many of them were new secondary pitches). A little disappointed with only a 96.5 heater. What happened to all those supposed 98 and 99 throws in camp? Still, four scoreless is four scoreless and I guess ita hell of a lot better than others thrown. 

I don't understand something. I pick up my phone on Saturday and attempt to confirm that both the Mets and Syracuse game was starting at 1pm. They weren't.  Both were starting around 4pm. Then I checked the projected game time temperature.  Queens was 42 and in Worcester was 34. Which brought a one word question to my lips.  Why? 

Why in Gawd's name would you schedule a game this late in March when it is warmer around 1pm? Got something to do earlier? Was the circus in town and they tied down the elephants on the mound? Nothing in either city makes any sense here. Who scheduled these? An Eskimo? Someone living in Fargo? 

You have to keep pitchers like Christian Scott in Florida because it's simply too dam cold for him to work on strengthening his rebuilt arm. Trust me. You lose a McLean or Tong to this kind of health neglect and someone is going to revisit this bullshite.

So Saturday... bottom of 9th... tied... bases loaded no out with Lindor, Soto, and Bichette coming up... Mets score none. Turned it off and chalked this one off to another loss to a bad team... not used to a Met team coming back like this, no less with Luis Roberts Jr. 

I still haven't signed on to this guy but this is a good start at trying to win me over; however, Roberts may not be the main concern for future outfield production. Don't be surprised if Carson Benge slumps out of the first game, given some more time in Syracuse to work on his hitting, and is replaced by MJ Melendez at some point this season.

The Mets announced... no big surprise... that prospect catcher, Yovanny Rodriquez would open up this season playing for the FCL Mets. But, here is the surprise... 

His buddy, SS Elian Pena, will not join him. 

Instead, Pena will start playing today for the St. Lucie Mets. Quite an assignment for the teenager, but those that have observed him always point out his advanced hitting skills, especially his ability to hit lefties. Remember, he's a left time hitter. Being only 19 and being to be able to this at an advanced level is quite rare in this game.

This may be fun.

I am extremely happy with Jack Wennington' first outing this week. 4.2-scoreless innings 

... five punch outs and only one walk. He did pitch 85 pitches which is more than ample for a first outing. 

He didn't have had givinuting cut short.  No one hads given me any explanation why Wenninger pitch Game 1 this season. He's my ace both due to talent and pure health and arm strength.

And finally.. it's far too early to dish up an analysis on this season so far. The Mets haven't even played a dozen games yet. I always wait for 100 games to make my first overall observation on how the Mets are doing. That being said, I said going into this season that my main concern would be the pitching this season, but I also said this team should survive this due to the fact that they are capable nightly with this team  to score 5+ runs a game, which will exceed the runs scored against them most games. 

This was quite evident during Game 1 against the lowly Pirates. Then... I'm just saying... the offensive prowess seems to have disappeared. Take the Kodai Senga game. Not the best thrown but only three runs given up. A team with this lineup shouldn't be losing this many games this early to a team scoring this few runs. 

Let's see how the next week goes.

CYA next week.