>>>>>This Weekend in Mets Baseball!

What a weekend! It started out great as New York ended a 6 game skid to start off the Washington Nationals series. The Mets beat super ace Max Scherzer and the Nats in amazing fashion in Friday nights game. Jacob deGrom had an interesting outing that started kinda messy but then ended super strong. Jacob wound up striking out 12 in 7 innings in his third consecutive double-digit strikeout game and the 13th of his career. After a rocky second frame the right-hander was magnificent retiring 15 of his last 19 batters, striking out nine. 

Travis d'Arnaud had a career best 2 home runs and 5 RBI in the opener. A breakout game for d'Arnaud, who is starting to look like the hard hitting catcher we had hoped for when we received him in the R.A.Dickey trade. Travis leads all MLB catchers with 15 RBI in April. The young Metropolitan catcher only drove in 15 runs total for his entire 2016 Mets season.

In what to me has been the most dramatic and magical moment of the season so far, Josh Edgin saved the day when he relived Mets closer Jeurys Familia with one out in the ninth and bases loaded vs. the nasty Nats. Terry Collins went with Edgin because hot Bryce Harper was batting and he preferred the matchup.

 I was pretty surprised Collins pulled Fammy, and if we lost that game it would have been a sharp kick in the groin. I felt positive that Washington was going to AT LEAST tie the game in the ninth. But Edgin pulled off somewhat of a miracle as he got Harper to hit a grounder back to him on the mound. Edgin threw home for one, d'Arnaud threw a bee-bee to first for the 1-2-3 double play and the game was over!

*Exhale*

Edgin made TC look like a genius!

New York also took game two of the series in fine style, this time Mets wunderkind Michael Conforto doing the honors by launching two homers on Saturday.  Jose Reyes also connected, leading the Mets over the Nationals 5-3 Saturday over Stephen Strasburg. Looks like Reyes might be out of his funk. Good, we need everyone contributing. Grandy, you're next! We need you!

As usual Zack Wheeler nitpicked at the corners too much, throwing 96 pitches in 4.2 innings of work, but he danced around danger and kept us in the game. The bullpen came on to do the rest, holding the lead through the remaining 5.1 frames.

And then todays game....GAH!

So we go from a magical moment on Friday night to a nightmarish moment on Sunday afternoon. Noah Syndergaard had just returned from a biceps injury having skipped one start. He threw a bullpen session without a problem and was reportedly ready to go.

And he went. And now he's gone.

Syndergaard had not pitched since April 20, ten days ago. He looked fine at the games start as far as velocity goes, hitting 100 on the gun consistently, but there was no movement on his fastball. I think he was a bit rusty, overthrowing the ball. The Nats plated five runs on five hits in the first inning swatting the ball around the field at will. In the second, Noah threw a strike to Harper on his 38th pitch and grimaced while reaching for his right armpit. Mets manager Terry Collins and the team trainer immediately came out, and Collins summoned reliever Sean Gilmartin.

What an awful end to this series. First, the exaltation brought by Friday nights scary down to the wire win, followed up by Saturdays victory and Confortos 2 bombs. I didn't think anything could bring me down after the first two games. And it's not the loss, that's just one game. Or the shellacking we took. Hell, we took the series. It's, of course, that Syndergaard went down again, this time in visible pain. Woe is me.

Lot of fans coming down on the Mets medical personnel, namely Ray Ramirez, because that's the only name they know. Well, I've been questioning their competence for years. But this time it was all on Noah. The whole MRI situation has been overblown IMO. This is a different injury. ''The preliminary diagnosis is possible lat strain,'' general manager Sandy Alderson said, ''which may or may not be related to his previous complaint, which was in the biceps. So we'll just have to wait and see what happens tomorrow.''

He came out today throwing too hard. He was rusty with no movement on the fastball, which he was hurling at a healthy 100mph. But in the bigs a flat fastball, no matter what the speed, ain't gonna get it done. They teed off on Noah. 

But still, the only thing that really bothered me was seeing him out there in pain. A Met fans worst nightmare. We need Syndergaard and we need him healthy. So it's April and we are already in recovery mode. Not good.

But it is extremely early.

mfc Season Set Highlight Card: Thor fries Fish

Great performance by everyone involved.

Bruce hit a homer(*grabs chest*)!

Conforto blasted one that almost hit the Shea bridge.

Rene Rivera showed why he's Thor's personal catcher, gunning down two Marlin runners in the 3rd inning. 

Thor went a full seven and Salas and Reed out of the pen closed the deal in style.

Great game. Lets see some more of these.

Yo Mets, you need to more than just blast home runs. Mix in some small ball. Like the first inning tonight.

Cabrera drops a beautiful bunt single, Yo follows with a single moving Asdrubal to third. A fielders choice and Fish error plates Cabrera, leaving Cespedes at 3rd and Bruce on first. Walker singles, driving in Yoenis. Bruce takes second. Duda singles, loading the bases. CONFORTO WALKS in a run! 

That made it 3-0 Mets. And we almost scored more but Walker was thrown out at the plate.

I want to see more of that. We can not survive by the long ball alone.

LETS GO METS!

2017 Opening Day

The Mets shut out their opponent on Opening Day for the 8th time in franchise history. First time since 2012 (also vs Braves).

Add a win to that tally. 

Since 1970, 36-12 in Opening Day games.

From Edgy @the CPF:

Mets Managers' Opening Day Records

Casey Stengel: 0-4

Wes Westrum: 0-2

Salty Parker: 0-0

Gil Hodges: 2-2

Yogi Berra: 4-0

Roy McMillan: 0-0

Joe Frazier: 2-0

Joe Torre: 3-1

George Bamberger: 2-0

Frank Howard: 0-0

Davey Johnson: 4-3

Bud Harrelson: 1-0

Mike Cubbage: 0-0

Jeff Torborg: 1-1

Dallas Green: 1-2

Bobby Valentine: 4-2

Art Howe: 1-1

Willie Randolph: 3-1

Jerry Manuel: 1-1

Terry Collins: 5-2

____

A number of the photos used were taken by J. Conrad Williams Jr.

The Daily News back cover by Howard Simmons.

____

I'm always making fun of Flores and his feet/running, but he does seem to have the sliding part down.
From 2015:

2017mfcROOKIES-Dominic Smith & Wuilmer Becerra

 I made a METset in 2012 but I don't think
 I shared any of that stuff online.

On December 17, 2012, the New York Mets traded Catcher Josh Thole, Mike Nickeas, and Pitcher R.A. Dickey to the Toronto Blue Jays for Catcher John Buck,  Pitcher Noah Syndergaard, Catcher Travis d'Arnaud, and Outfielder Wuilmer Becerra.

Look at the names in that trade! Goodbye Josh Thole, who caught our first no hitter. Nickeas, who had a sweet swing and at least looked good. And R.A. Dickey, who only just gave us a season for the ages in 2012 when he climbed the mountain that led to the Cy Young Award.

And we get John Buck, who really wanted to be a home run slugger and kinda was. His 15 kaBOOMs was more than I was expecting, and some big ones too.

We thought d'Arnaud was the prize but the jury is still out on him. I think he can be a double hitting machine that hopefully can carry his weight behind the plate as well. He has much to prove, but we saw some of his potential before he started messing with his batting stance. He was even tweaking his wrist on throws to second, and that was just unneeded movement. I think he will find his stance and his groove. He'll have to work hard on his defense and stamina, two weaknesses.

Who else did we get? I forget...OH! Only Noah Syndergaard, one of the top 5 pitchers in the game ( yes, I went there. I'll even put deGrom in that top 5!). Noah will start opening day and I couldn't have a more confident feeling than I do now. That may all change 2 innings in on Monday, but that's baseball. Back to my point, WE GOT THOR!

And he's got a new pitch!

And we also got Wuilmer Becerra, of who I know little and have

heard less about. I hope that's about to change. Becerra was assigned to Gulf Coast League Mets upon his arrival to Mets but began his career with the Kingsport Mets in 2014.

The Mets added him to their 40-man roster after the 2016 season.

The card above is a 2014Mets360 Dominic Smith, made by request back in '14. Seems like yesterday.
So Smith has been a long time coming, but I do expect to see him up this season. 

Dominic Smith was selected by the Mets with the eleventh overall selection of the 2013 Major League Baseball Draft out of Junípero Serra High School in Gardena, California. He was assigned to the Salt River Rafters of the Arizona Fall League for the 2015 season. He bats and throws left-handed.

Smith was tabbed as one of the top prospects for the 2013 draft when he committed to attend the University of Southern California, where he would have played college baseball for the USC Trojans.

The Mets selected Smith in the first round, with the eleventh overall selection, of the 2013 Major League Baseball draft. Upon signing with the Mets, the Mets assigned Smith to the Gulf Coast Mets of the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League (GCL), where he batted .287 with three home runs and 22 runs batted in (RBIs) in 48 games. He was subsequently promoted to the Kingsport Mets of the Rookie-level Appalachian League, where he recorded four doubles in six at bats. At season's end, Baseball America named Smith as the 4th best prospect in the GCL for 2013. He spent the entire 2014 season with the Savannah Sand Gnats of the Class A South Atlantic League. With just one home run, 44 RBIs and 77 strikeouts in 461 at bats, Smith fell way short of expectations.

Smith got off to slow start with the St. Lucie Mets of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League (FSL) in 2015. He batted .143 with one double in his first sixteen games, and was 0-for-22 to start May. On May 12, Smith got his first extra base hit since Opening Day with a double against the Tampa Yankees. The 3-for-5 performance signaled a turn around for Smith, who compiled a sixteen-game hitting streak to raise his batting average to .260. For the month of June, Smith batted .352 with a FSL-leading 38 hits and 51 total bases. He also had the second most RBIs and fifth most runs scored to earn FSL Player of the Month honors. The hot hitting continued; Smith ended the season with a .305/.354/.417 slashline, and a career high six home runs. He led the league with 79 RBIs and 33 doubles on his way to being named FSL Player of the Year.

In 2016, Smith played for the Binghamton Mets of the Class AA Eastern League, where he posted a .302 batting average with 14 home runs and 91 RBI's. He played in the 2016 All-Star Futures Game. The Mets assigned Smith to the Las Vegas 51s of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League to start the 2017 season.

mfcNOTE: All the Dominic Smith stuff was ripped right from his WIKI page. I know, shame on me. ;)