The Mets could have used the luck of the Irish in their St. Patrick’s Day meeting with the Braves. Jon Niese pitched an excellent game, giving up only 2 hits and a walk. Unfortunately, one of those hits was a long home run by Chris Johnson, who is in contention to be Chipper Jones replacement (as if anyone could ever replace Chipper in the eyes of Met fans) at third base for the Braves. Jon was working on his off speed pitches, as pitchers often experiment in Spring Training, and he looked very good, with the exception of the one mistake to Chapman. That lone run raises Niese's ERA to 0.71 and his WHIP to 0.87. The Mets bull pen looked good as well, giving up only one run in four innings, but that run proved enough for the Bravos.
At the start, it looked as if Julio Teheran was going to take a beating. After a leadoff homer by Valdespin, Collin Cowgill backed Jose Costanza onto the warning track in left field, where Costanza made a leaping catch, albeit it didn’t look like the leap was necessary. Ike Davis followed with a hard hit line drive single. But then the Mets’ anemic offense took charge of the game, mustering only Valdespin’s second hit the rest of the way, ensuring a Met loss. The Mets looked spiffy in their Kelly Green jerseys when they took the field. I guess they didn’t want to dirty their uniforms too much, since they will be sold off for charity in the coming weeks.
Bad Boy Jordany Valdespin continues to tighten his grip on an opening day roster spot. More than that, I think that the growing list of Mets in the infirmary ensures Jordany a place in the starting lineup, come April 1. (More on that later.) Spin’s leadoff homer, his team leading fourth of the Spring, was an impressive shot. That he later showed some patience, working out a walk, his first of the spring in 40 PAs, was also nice to see. But, as the saying goes, one swallow does not a Spring make. It would be nice to see the Spinster improve on his 5.5% minor league BB rate if he is to play a table setter role for the Mets down the road. But Jordany is a free swinger, to say the least, and I’m not sure anyone can rein him in. His 2 for 2 day gets his avg. up to .378 and his SLG now stands at .703. The only thing that can keep Spin from Citifield on Opening Day would be if he strains his intercostal. (I never even heard of an intercostal before this Spring, and now we have two of them.) Bite your tongue, Herb.
Speaking of Opening Day, it occurred to me as I looked over the lineup, that this could resemble the Opening Day lineup for our Metsies. So I think I’ll go out on a limb, as several other bloggers have recently, and put in my two cents with a prediction of the Mets lineup on April 1. Here goes:
Valdespin - 2B
Cowgill - CF
Davis - 1B
Byrd - RF
Duda - LF
Turner - 3B
Buck - C
Tejada - SS
Niese - P
Pretty ugly, huh? Well, I call it as I see it. Actually, what makes it so ugly is David’s absence. If you insert Wright in the 3 hole and remove Turner from the 6, it’s not a bad lineup at all. Just my opinion.
Tim Byrdak was in the bull pen for the game. Not as a participant, of course, since he is firmly ensconced on the DL. Tim told me he expected to be ready to pitch by June. Then he proceeded to play with the kids in the stands, and it was a pleasure to see. First, when a couple of kids asked him for an autograph, he told them that he couldn’t sign during the game, but asked if they would take some bubble gum instead. He dipped down into the huge vat with the bubble gum, among the other vats of goodies that the team keeps in the pen for the pitchers, and handed each kid a fistful of gum. When the other kids in the surrounding seats saw what was going on, they flocked around the rail where Tim was standing, and pretty soon he was doling out gum to all of them. I commented to him that given the team’s financial situation he maybe shouldn’t be giving away all that gum, (lol) whereupon he said, “our financial troubles are over“. Then he got cagey and squatted down so the kids couldn’t see him and he put a few pieces of gum on the rail. As soon as a kid went to take a piece, Tim grabbed his hand, like a cat and mouse game. Of course, he also relented about the autographs and signed for the kids between innings. Byrdak seems like a really great guy.
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