Sunday. Sun’s out and the wind has finally shut up after screaming all night. We have an hour and 20 minutes to watch the game before we have to leave for a dinner engagement. Can you believe Toots had the nerve to schedule something during the 4th game of the season!
It’s Senga Day, the first of who knows how many. As I go to get my Mets cap Toots says, “My god, you are truly the most attractive man. It’s like Tom Selleck and Seth Rogen had a baby. Your intellect is staggering. And you’re SO FUNNY.”
Okay Toota actually says, “Are you fired up?” Hell yeah. Then add, “I just want to see a major league pitcher. As long as he’s that, we’re good.”
I looked amazing when I said it too. Toots nearly collapsed from handsomeness.
Kodai Senga is a Major League pitcher. His first outing was a success and we won. Everybody dance now, right? But let’s dwell for a moment and think about how it could have gone.
Bases loaded in the 1st. Sengs’s given up a single, a double, walked three, and hasn’t gotten anybody out. His pitch count is already high and the count is 3-2 on Yuri Gurriel. If he can’t get Gurriel, he might be done for the day.
Imagine that. Your first major league game in a new country in the best league this game’s ever seen and you couldn’t get anybody out. How the hell do you come back from that?
MetsTwitter would’ve burned itself down. Players would’ve been cursed, feuds fought, and crybabies would’ve been on blast.
But all that doesn’t matter. Your feelings and thoughts matter to you but they don’t have anything to do with the game. You can boo, scream, cry, and YELL IN ALL CAPS ALL YOU WANT! But the dudes on the field play the games.
So when it comes to the hurtful thoughts that ping pong around your head, I say to be like Elsa and let that shit go.
Kodai Senga faced a moment. A dark, tough moment. He had one pitch. So he threw the Ghost Fork. She disappeared off the plate, Gurriel swung at the atmosphere, and his bat went flying into the ether. One out. Let’s go.
The rest of Senga’s game was strong. His fastball’s got jump. He was overthrowing it early cause he was pumped up. The cutter’s a nice change of pace and tough on righties. The Ghost Fork has the nasty action of a hard wiffle-ball. But it got hit when it was elevated. Mets fans should prepare to see some long home runs when he misses upstairs with it.
Overall the kid can pitch. Feels weird to call a 30 year old man “kid” but a rookie’s a rookie. He’s a major leaguer and he should be damn proud of it too.
Kodai Senga faced down failure and said no. He showed grit and made his pitch. Nice job, kid. Welcome to the show.
NOTES ON THE LAST 6 GAMES
Man it’s fun to watch Francisco Lindor play shortstop. He glides to the ball, presents a wide glove, and throws on target hard.
Our lineup feels like last year’s. We get scrap runs and occasional dingers. As an approach, I prefer contact to smash overall because it wins. But we need more of a home run threat than just Alonso. Look for a trade or two before the deadline.
I love-hate-love the pitch clock.
The game moves faster. That’s good. No one needs to see a dude fiddling with his battling gloves for 15 seconds. People got shit to do.
But the pitch clock is also silly. Home plate umps have to call balls and strikes. It’s kind of the most important part of the baseball game. Why make them a clock cop too? Umpires are just people and people got shit to do.
No one’s really hitting except for Narvaez.
McNeil looks like he’ll break out first. He’s making good contact but hitting them to where they is instead of where they ain’t.
We’ve lost our last two games by a combined score of 18-0. Not great. But we’re 3-3 and considering how we’re hitting, I’ll take it. Let’s get home and get right.
4/5/23
#LGM #LFGM
