Hello, Reality? Yes, I hear you have a check for me?
Ok, so it’s official: the Mets will not run the table and complete an undefeated season to the shock of probably everybody reading this.
But today’s game was all about Zimmerman and Zimmermann. And if the Nationals ever get a guy named Zimmermannn, then we’d really be fucked for years to come.
Ryan Zimmerman took Jacob deGrom deep for a two-run shot in the first inning and Jordan Zimmermann made that stand up as the Nats handed the Mets their first loss since last September 2-1.
It was a good run while it lasted.
The Mets had a serious threat going in the second inning, but – after scoring one on a Travis d’Arnaud single – left the bases loaded when Curtis Granderson was caught looking at a slider for strike three to end the frame.
Granderson thought it was high and had a brief conversation with the umpire about it. Personally, I thought it was a strike and I’m sure everybody in the office next to me will vouch for that after they heard me scream, “Fucking swing the bat!” Either way, the pitch was really too close to take with a full count and ended up representing the best opportunity the Mets would get all game.
deGrom was good. Not great, but was able to work himself out of jams when he had to and shut the Nats down after those two runs. Good pitchers do that. And, more often than not, you’ll leave with a win when you get 6 innings of two-run ball from your starter, but it wasn’t to be.
The team, for the most part, seemed to have some really good at-bats. A lot of hard contact that was just hit right at people. Lucas Duda, especially, was a hard luck victim as he smoked a frozen rope into the shift that was snagged by Dan Uggla (who I didn’t even realize was on the Nats until the other day) and had another hit taken away when he lined one right into the glove of pitcher, Blake Treinen that turned into an inning-ending double play.
It sucks. These things happen. It’s a little bit bothersome to see them only have one earned run through the first 18 innings of the season, but the Nats have some pretty good pitching so I’m not going to sweat it too hard. Yet.
The biggest deal of the day, of course, was everybody in #MetsTwitter having a fucking aneurysm over the lineup. I honestly don’t understand why. Throughout the entire tenure of Sandy/Terry they’ve been pretty conventional with the way they’ve done things and it’s not like they’ve had such great success. So then the team tries something different and everybody goes nuts because it’s not what you “should” do.
I don’t care who hits where. Just fucking win games. To be honest, it even worked out the way it was supposed to and got Grandy to the plate with the sacks packed, but just didn’t pay off in the end.
Also loved what I saw from Rafael Montero in his two innings of relief. Saw him in person a couple of times last year and he seems to have a totally different look now. Maybe it’s having a bit of experience under his belt or possibly fixing that whole tipping pitches thing, but he just looks a lot more confident. I know I say this after one appearance, but I’m also counting spring training. He’s obviously going to force their hand and get a push to the rotation with another few outings like this.
Wilmer Flores hasn’t cost us anything defensively as of this writing.
Get at me on Twitter: @MaximusSexPower. I’m pretty active during the games so I’ll enjoy the company.
Off topic, I hated seeing RA Dickey’s good performance against the Yankees go to waste. Not because I hate the Yankees (I honestly don’t. I’m very indifferent to them), but because I just really like Dickey. For a team that was out of the race by May, he made 2012 a really fun season.
Did anybody else pop huge seeing Jeff Francoeur hit a bomb? Frenchy’s another guy I liked while he was with the Mets (I may be the one guy who owns his player-tee) so I was happy for him. He’s actually gone through a lot to get back to the majors and is, by all accounts, a good guy so you like seeing that kind of stuff. But let’s be clear: fuck the Phillies. I hope Frenchy goes 0 for like 72 against the Mets this year. I don’t like him that fucking much.
Buck up, campers, a lotta baseball left to be played. The best part? The next game signifies #HARVEYDAY! You think you’re excited?! Feel these nipples!
Joe DiLeo
elshoeshatemail@msn.com
@MaximusSexPower
