Why is this an appropriate picture for Opening Day Part II? I wrote about that over the weekend.

Phillies 5, Mets 3

(0-1)

It’s hard not to make sweeping judgments about a team or a player based on what happens on Opening Day.

A hot start by a player turns into a disappointment if they don’t keep it up all year.

Same with a team - if it all comes together on Opening Day you expect that to happen in every game.

Early in the Mets season opener I kept having to remind myself that it’s just one game and to stop looking too deeply into everything that happened as a positive sign of what’s to come this season.

As it turns out, it was only late in the game that we might have gotten the strongest hint about what we should expect from this team.

That would be the 8th inning, to be specific.

And the 7th, if we’re being honest.

Miguel Castro didn’t exactly dominate that 7th inning, getting a couple of hard-hit outs, including a diving play by Pete Alonso to snuff a potential Phillies rally and end the inning.

He was followed by new acquisitions Trevor May - who loaded the bases with just one out in the 8th - and Aaron Loup, who hit a batter while those bases were loaded and then proceeded to give up four more runs before ending the inning.

The 5-run 8th erased another stellar start by Jacob deGrom - one that ended after just six innings and 77 pitches.

Too early to draw a conclusion that it’s more of the same? deGrom putting the Mets in position to win and then all of us watching and waiting for the bullpen to blow it? I’m sure that won’t be the last time this year we see that.

(And we didn’t even make it to the 9th inning and a chance to see how Edwin Diaz would have jeopardized Jacob deGrom’s win tonight.)

But it’s still Opening Day and I’ll throw these positives at you: the Mets came within a few feet of taking back the lead in the top of the 9th on a Pete Alonso fly out. They have good hitters and are never out of a game in which they trail by a few runs…even if they’re down to just three outs.

Tonight I’m going to go with “It’s just one game.”

My fear is that this won’t be the last time we see this situation play out.

Notes: This game turned out to be a bummer and certainly is not fun to write about, but I’m not giving up on the team after one poor showing…The early part of the game everything was falling into place so nicely - good defense after that was a stress all spring, Pete Alonso taking pitches and poking a single the opposite way, James McCann with an RBI hit in his first game with the Mets, Francisco Lindor turning a smooth double play on a grounder up the middle - all things you’d want to see in the opener…It’s fitting that Jacob deGrom became the first Mets pitcher to get the first hit of the season for the team. But the fact that they couldn’t rough up Matt Moore early is as big a factor into why they lost the game as the bullpen was…Lindor got his first hit as a Met in the 9th inning, but he had a couple of hard-hit balls that the Phillies made nice plays on…Jeff McNeil hit the ball hard four times and had nothing to show for it.

How I Watched: The only bright spot of the delayed season start is that we weren’t subjected to an ESPN broadcast booth for the Mets’ opener and we had the game on SNY. I watched the SNY broadcast through the MLB.TV app tonight.

What Else I Watched: The only other game I watched today, inexplicably really, but it was the only game I was available for early, was Tigers-Twins. Former Blue Jays pitcher Matt Shoemaker pitched really well for Minnesota, but the Tigers looked like they didn’t want to be there all game. It reminded me of a last day of the season game - it looked like they were ready for the off-season. My biggest takeaway, though: Jose Urena now pitches for Detroit. I wonder which promising young AL Central player’s career he’ll threaten by throwing at them because of some personal slight the way he used to play for the Marlins.

Notes From Around The League: Sounds like Shohei Ohtani wasn’t seriously injured Sunday night, which is good news because that slide into his leg looked ugly. It’s also interesting that he got hurt on an out-of-the-ordinary play rather than an ordinary play. He’s exciting to watch but his movements are so violent I feel like he’s going to hurt himself either swinging the bat or throwing the ball. Some guys look effortless and fluid as they play - Ohtani looks like he’s really efforting…Good to see a good performance by Steven Matz in his Blue Jays debut. I didn’t watch any of that game but would have much rather had that game at 1 than the Tigers. Good for Matz - I hope he keeps it up….If you’re curious about the caption on that picture, this is where you can find the other post I’m talking about…Thanks for checking out the write-up. I’m sure this formatting will morph as the year goes on - and obviously I’d love to hear from you - opinions on the game or ideas for other sections would be welcome. Hopefully I’m not going to have to add a “Questionable Decisions By Luis Rojas” section.