What is that baseball club that appears to know what it’s doing and then goes about doing it? Why, I do believe that’s the New York Mets.
The New York Mets visited Colorado on Monday and started playing three hours before they were originally supposed to. That was very competent thinking, given the weather forecast for later in the evening. True, the change in timing wasn’t a product of Met decisionmaking, but they knew enough to show up for a first pitch at 3:40 PM Mountain Daylight. Rain was coming. Snow was to follow. Great job carving out a window.
The Mets also knew enough to schedule the Rockies just as the Rockies have begun tumbling, losing their previous four games. Scheduling is done by MLB, but, again, the Mets opted to show up and not be discouraged by the sweep inflicted on them by the very same Rox in the land of bagels and lox the weekend before last. Good attitude there.
OK, we’ve got playable conditions and a pliable opponent. Did we have a starting pitcher? Does an opener count? Innings are innings. We used a reliever (Huascar Brazoban [1]) for the first, then another (Austin Warren [2]) for the second and third. So if I’ve got this straight, you show up early and then use pitchers you usually use later right away — and you play the Rockies after playing the Angels. Staying within your weight class is a good tip.
For the first several innings, regardless of who was pitching for the Mets, the Mets weren’t hitting off the Rockies and their traditional starter Tomoyuki Sugano. That changed in the sixth when defensive wiz Carson Benge [3] did something his teammate Mark Vientos [4] couldn’t do no matter how hard Vientos tried. No, not catch a ball, wise guy, but hit one over the fence. Vientos launched two spheres very far, but not far enough to elude Denver leather, never mind leave Coors Field. Benge, who made another catch of beauty Monday, belted one good and high to put the Mets on the board. Then our patented two-catcher attack came to the fore. Francisco Alvarez [5], in a hitting-only role, doubled; Luis Torrens [6], recently inked to remain Backup Catcher For Life, doubled directly thereafter. That was another run.
Vientos? He stopped hitting long outs and instead lined a single that brought home two runs, carried by Torrens and Juan Soto [7]. Soto, in a bit of a slump, was moved up to the leadoff spot Monday. Another part of our hypercompetent strategy of doing what’s not expected. Soto didn’t hit, but he had walked somewhere between Torrens and Vientos, and in this case, a hit was as good as a walk.
In that spirit, a starter was as good as a reliever once David Peterson [8], who’s almost as from Colorado as Neil Walker was from Pittsburgh, took to the mound. Presumably pitching before some people who came specifically to see him, David entered in the fourth and stuck around through the seventh. The seventh was a little dicey, as the Rockies halved the Mets lead to 4-2, but Petey was left in to finish his job. Four innings out of the bullpen seems so much more impressive than a four-inning start. Hey, whatever works.
Craig Kimbrel [9], who used to be a big-deal closer, took care of the eighth. Devin Williams [10], who may or may not still be a big-deal closer, took care of the ninth. The game I expected to be tuning in for at 8:40 PM EDT was in the books as a 4-2 win [11] before 8 o’clock. The game I suspected might be a fiasco (not scheduled as such, just the way things have been too often) was smooth as slightly wrinkled silk. There were those two Vientos flyouts, and Benge falling down when not making one of his gorgeous grabs, and a triple Kimbrel had to tiptoe around, but what do you want from these Mets — perfection?
Competence will do.