Mets 8, Phillies 4

(1-1)

Ladies and gentlemen, like anything that needs a little spicing up in the earlygoing, I think we have a catchphrase.

My daughter was doing her French work Tuesday morning (it’s her last week at home) and she excitedly came out of her room to show me the verb she was working with.

I think it means “put” but as far as I’m concerned anytime the Mets do something that makes you shake your head this year I will exclaim, “Je Mets!”

Luckily, Tuesday night’s game wasn’t “Full Je Mets” (as we like to say around here)…but it had an uncomfortable amount of Je Mets moments for a game that ended up in the ‘W’ column.

I guess the first thing we need to point out is that this is not a championship-caliber bullpen right now. It’s been the biggest weakness the past couple of years that hasn’t gotten any better. (Sloppy baserunning, sloppy defense, runners left on - those were all big problems that have improved. Bullpen outs have not gotten better.)

Other than that (haha. other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?), there were positive takeaways from Game 2, starting with Marcus Stroman. I thought he pitched really well in his six innings. He allowed just a solo home run to DiDi Gregorius, and got a lot of groundball outs.

Speaking of home runs, know that I am a huge Dom Smith fan and I love watching him hit. I love that he hit the first Mets home run of 2021. (I did not love not seeing him in the opener.)

I also like watching Pete Alonso hit in years that are not 2020. He was pressing all last year. In the first two games this year he has looked really good at the plate. It was nice to see his willingness to go to the opposite field and be a hitter rewarded with a home run that helped put this game away.

So here we are. An opportunity on Wednesday afternoon for the Mets to win their first series of the season. Taking two out of three is always a good thing.

The Mets will be facing Aaron Nola, so it’ll be their first test against one of the division’s aces. Past Mets teams would have trouble scoring runs in this type of game - day game after a night game, facing a tough pitcher, on a getaway day.

Maybe the result will be different in 2021.

Notes: Just to be clear - this isn’t the place to come for a recap of the game. I think that’s obvious - it’s just my take on the 2021 Mets, which I have found over the years aligns with the take of many other Mets fans. (Albeit with a much more positive spin.) It also aligns, for the most part, with new Mets fan friends I’ve made - you can see that in the comments of yesterday’s post. So, in recap: Go read a beat writer for the recaps or the big news, but come here for my take on those things…J.D. Davis took a pitch off the hand in the second inning. Apparently x-rays didn’t show a break, but I’m not expecting to see him in the lineup Wednesday. Wonder if he’ll be back for the home opener Thursday…I’ll just throw this out there since I had a day to think about it - As bad as the bullpen was on Monday night I’ll offer this optimistic take: a) I wonder if not playing the first series of the season affected Trevor May. I was looking forward to seeing him pitch again and wasn’t going to judge him on the one performance. (I didn’t necessarily think we’d see him in Tuesday night’s game when we did.) And b) Other than hitting Bryce Harper to force in the first run, Aaron Loup was OK. He got the grounder to third he needed and the ball was thrown away, and then he got a sacrifice fly which otherwise would have ended the inning. This kind of outlook is why I set myself up for disappointment every year, in case you’re wondering.

How I Watched: I stayed up too late Monday night watching the game and writing about it that I didn’t wake up to my alarm to exercise Tuesday morning. So I thought maybe I would try riding the exercise bike during the game Tuesday night. I’ll write more about that at this link on Wednesday and then in the ol’ Sunday Paper on Sunday. It went well - I rode for an hour and the ride ended just as Dom Smith’s homer cleared the wall. So that was fun.

What Else I Watched: Last summer I got a second TV that I could bring with me to different parts of the house (and outside) to watch baseball during the pandemic. That TV’s ‘home base’, if you will, is in front of the bike. So I had that TV on SNY (through the MLB.TV app) and then followed the Marlins-Cardinals game on the other TV.. I have Sandy Alcantara on my fantasy team - don’t sleep on those Marlins starters. Anyway, in the second inning Tyler O’Neill hit a foul ball that shattered a camera behind home plate. Kind of cool to see if you find the replay.

Notes From Around The League: Last night as I was putting my entry to bed (before I put myself to bed!) I had the Padres on, as I told you I might do quite often this year. I saw Fernando Tatis, Jr. go down on a swing and a miss in great pain. The report is he won’t need surgery - here’s hoping he doesn’t miss too much time…Speaking of San Diego, I saw a Tuesday night highlight before turning in for the night - Yu Darvish giving up a homer to Brandon Crawford. A lot of home runs given up by Darvish in the early going…I need to do a little homework on broadcasting crews. I wonder if it’s a team decision or a league directive about where team networks are allowed to broadcast from. I know the Mets team and the Red Sox team are doing home games in person and road games by video feed. I haven’t paid close attention to the road broadcast teams of the other games I’ve watched…I love baseball season. I can’t get enough of it. Thanks for checking out what I have to say.