It's Really Like This
I thought I missed baseball. Then I remembered what it's like to watch the Mets play.
First, Jacob deGrom pitched. He more or less dominated, even though he was pitching for the first time in ten days and wasn’t at his absolute sharpest. He left after six innings and only 77 pitches, the Mets had only scored two runs (one of which he’d driven in himself), and the bullpen promptly fell to pieces. Trevor May and Aaron Loup combined to allow five runs, Pete Alonso’s liner died on the warning track, and deGrom’s Opening Day win disappeared faster than you could say “maybe this year he’ll actually get run support.”
Then Marcus Stroman pitched. He looked almost as good as ever, the cutter bedeviling opposing hitters and the sinker and change tumbling out of sight. Dom Smith homered on a pitch at his shoulders; Vince Velasquez walked the house on the way to allowing four runs without a hit; Pete Alonso, not to be outdone, homered too. Trevor May pitched a scoreless inning that, when all was said and done, barely took five years off my life. Jeurys Familia made it through his inning eventually, and only induced one or two stress-related attacks of nausea, and the Mets won, though somehow, it hardly felt like it.
It’s amazing that when we say “I miss baseball,” this is what we’re talking about. Mets games these days are torturous and painful, dragged out to the point of ridiculousness, stuttering, tottering, blindly-maneuvering hobbles to the finish, and I can’t wait for the next one. David Peterson will pitch. The bullpen may (will) be bad. I’ll be watching intently, laser-focused on the screen, emotions fluctuating faster than two outs, nobody on can turn into a three-run rally when Dellin Betances is pitching.
So far, despite their 1-1 record, the Mets have looked bad. There’s no use denying it. Without Vince Velasquez’s meltdown yesterday, there’s every chance that the game turns into a Mets loss, although had the game been closer, Edwin Díaz probably would have pitched the ninth rather than Familia. Color me reassured. It became fashionable this offseason to spout takes along the lines of “Edwin Díaz has rediscovered himself, he looks better than ever...why can’t Mets fans accept that?” Is that...is it really a question?
Here are some reasons: Jeurys Familia. Armando Benitez. John Franco. Aaron Heilman. Scott Schoeneweis. The majority of relievers the Mets have ever had. Edwin Díaz fell apart in 2019, then looked good for about three minutes in 2020. Why can’t Mets fans accept that he’s fully returned to his dominant self? Because we know better.
Díaz, actually, will likely pitch this afternoon against the Phillies. He hasn’t pitched in the first two games of the season, and as a fickle, fragile closer, it’s important for him to get his work in, or else his arm will dry up and turn to dust. Historians believe that this is what happened to Robert Gsellman. I kid, hopefully. Díaz is due for an appearance, so today will likely begin his quest to prove that 2020 was for real, and 2019 wasn’t. I can sincerely say that I’ll believe it when I see it.
Hopefully, with that impending Díaz appearance in mind, the Mets can build up an insurmountable lead this afternoon against the Phillies. Honestly, I think they can. The Mets did score eight runs yesterday, but they still haven’t really started hitting, and they’re due for it. Francisco Lindor hasn’t quite found his stroke yet; Jeff McNeil has crushed the ball, but right at opposing fielders. To be sure, some Mets are at the top of their offensive games: Brandon Nimmo has walked about 17 times in two games, Alonso and Smith both homered yesterday, and Michael Conforto is chugging along like the consistent hitter that he is. But eventually the offense will find its true rhythm and start churning out runs without the benefit of a wild Vince Velasquez.
The question, really, is how long it will take for the Mets to find that offensive sweet spot, and how long they can keep it up. Even scoring eight runs yesterday, they weren’t quite on their game. The Phillies, even down by four runs, felt like they were on the advance all night, constantly threatening; even with a big lead, the Mets felt like they were playing catch-up. Believe it or not, though, this will change. Eventually the Mets will be the dominant team and their opponents will be the ones constantly playing from behind. Even the 2018 Mets, with Adrian Gonzalez and Todd Frazier in the lineup, reeled off a dominant 12-2 stretch when they were hitting well; the 2021 Mets can run circles around that team. All we know for certain is that whenever these Mets end up finding their offensive stride, it won’t happen with Jacob deGrom on the mound.