Friday night, Squawker Lisa and I made our first trip out to Citi Field this year, along with our friend David, and we caught a glimpse into a bright future for the Mets. A dominant pitcher, productive sluggers and an energized ballpark. While it was great to see Ike Davis and Luca Duda homer twice each, particularly when two of those homers came off of Stephen Strasburg, the main reason to cheer was Matt Harvey. The Mets' history revolves around ace pitchers, and the Mets appear to have another one.
I grew up planning my trips to the ballpark around when Tom Seaver was pitching. Then it was Dwight Gooden. Last year, I went to the last home game of the year to see R.A. Dickey win his 20th. But at the start of 2013, the only pitcher I thought about planning to see was Dickey returning to New York as a Blue Jay and pitching at Yankee Stadium. Now it's time to start seeing when Harvey pitches next.
The Nationals are the team picked by many to go the World Series. The other two pitching matchups this weekend are Gio Gonzalez vs. Jeremy Hefner and Jordan Zimmermann vs. Dillon Gee. Anything can happen and I hope for the best, but, well, at least today is Bark in the Park and tomorrow is Ron Darling Bobblehead Day.
But the Nationals' top pitcher, the one expected to lead his team to domination of the Mets' division for the next decade, couldn't dominate the Mets last night, while the Mets' top pitcher showed that when he's on the mound, a so-so Met team can compete with anyone.
Last night, fans also got to cheer the announcement of the capture of the second Boston Marathon bombing suspect. I appreciated the playing of Boston-themed music before each inning. Even Lisa approved, though when "Sweet Caroline" was played in the ninth, she drew the line at joining me in singing along.
Showing posts with label Stephen Strasburg. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stephen Strasburg. Show all posts
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Add Ike Davis to NL East's night of the rookies
On a night when two highly-touted rookies made great MLB debuts for NL East rivals, the Mets won on a walkoff homer by their own rookie star.
Ike Davis may not have the impact of the Nationals' Stephen Strasburg, who had a first game for the ages, striking out 14 Pirates in seven innings. 20-year-old Marlins phenom Mike Stanton, with 21 homers already this year in the minors, went 3 for 5 in his debut. But if the Mets are going to keep pace with their division rivals (the other highly-hyped rookie this year, Jason Heyward, is on the Braves) they need their own young stars. Tonight, Davis delivered.
Mike Pelfrey, another Met first-round amateur draft choice, also came through, going nine innings, but leaving in a 1-1 tie.
Mike and Ike's performances tonight make you wonder about the wisdom of signing free agents when it makes you lose your first-round picks. The Mets had no first-rounder in 2006, 2007 and 2009 as a result of signing Billy Wagner, Moises Alou and Francisco Rodriguez. This picks would have been in the lower half of the first round, but Davis was picked 18th.
At the time, I thought the signings of Wagner and K-Rod were good ones, since the Mets appeared to be a closer away from contending for the World Series. But after two volatile free-agent closers in four seasons, I really hope the Mets can figure out the closing situation in-house next time.
There was never a justification for signing the aging, injury-prone Alou.
This year, the Mets kept their first-rounder despite signing Jason Bay because the pick was protected due to their poor record in 2009. The Mets lost their second-rounder instead.
The Boston Red Sox had the 20th and 39th picks for losing Type A free agent Wagner, who was with the Red Sox for only a few games. The Mets traded Wagner to save money, so instead of those picks, they ended up with Chris Carter.
At least the Mets were willing to go over slot in drafting Matt Harvey, a Scott Boras client, with their first 2010 pick. Let's hope that they did not cut corners on their other picks, unlike in recent years.
I watched some of the Strasburg game, and I'm afraid the NL East just got a lot tougher, and for the long term. The Mets' priority needs to be developing their own young talent, not sacrificing it for short-term fixes.
Ike Davis may not have the impact of the Nationals' Stephen Strasburg, who had a first game for the ages, striking out 14 Pirates in seven innings. 20-year-old Marlins phenom Mike Stanton, with 21 homers already this year in the minors, went 3 for 5 in his debut. But if the Mets are going to keep pace with their division rivals (the other highly-hyped rookie this year, Jason Heyward, is on the Braves) they need their own young stars. Tonight, Davis delivered.
Mike Pelfrey, another Met first-round amateur draft choice, also came through, going nine innings, but leaving in a 1-1 tie.
Mike and Ike's performances tonight make you wonder about the wisdom of signing free agents when it makes you lose your first-round picks. The Mets had no first-rounder in 2006, 2007 and 2009 as a result of signing Billy Wagner, Moises Alou and Francisco Rodriguez. This picks would have been in the lower half of the first round, but Davis was picked 18th.
At the time, I thought the signings of Wagner and K-Rod were good ones, since the Mets appeared to be a closer away from contending for the World Series. But after two volatile free-agent closers in four seasons, I really hope the Mets can figure out the closing situation in-house next time.
There was never a justification for signing the aging, injury-prone Alou.
This year, the Mets kept their first-rounder despite signing Jason Bay because the pick was protected due to their poor record in 2009. The Mets lost their second-rounder instead.
The Boston Red Sox had the 20th and 39th picks for losing Type A free agent Wagner, who was with the Red Sox for only a few games. The Mets traded Wagner to save money, so instead of those picks, they ended up with Chris Carter.
At least the Mets were willing to go over slot in drafting Matt Harvey, a Scott Boras client, with their first 2010 pick. Let's hope that they did not cut corners on their other picks, unlike in recent years.
I watched some of the Strasburg game, and I'm afraid the NL East just got a lot tougher, and for the long term. The Mets' priority needs to be developing their own young talent, not sacrificing it for short-term fixes.
How many of you are going to watch Stephen Strasburg's first game?
Was planning on watching Stephen Strasburg's major league debut tonight in lieu of watching the Yankee game. I'll have the Bombers in the picture-in-picture thingy, so I can check out anything exciting that happens.
So, I was just wondering if any of our readers were going to do the same thing, catching this moment of MLB history.(Then again, I remember thinking I was watching history when I saw Hideki Irabu's Yankee debut!)
What are you going to watch tonight? Strasburg? Yankees? Mets? The NBA finals? The season finale of "Glee"? Tell us about it!
So, I was just wondering if any of our readers were going to do the same thing, catching this moment of MLB history.(Then again, I remember thinking I was watching history when I saw Hideki Irabu's Yankee debut!)
What are you going to watch tonight? Strasburg? Yankees? Mets? The NBA finals? The season finale of "Glee"? Tell us about it!
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