Silent Birds

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The Mets completed a sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays yesterday, winning by a score of 2-1. The Blue Jays scored three runs the entire series. While the team offense continues to take an extended holiday, the pitching, especially the bullpen, has gone to work and shut the opposition down. The team would be nowhere near 6-3 if it wasn’t for them. 

The pen had to come in earlier than Carlos Mendoza would have liked, but David Peterson forced Mendy’s hand with two outs in the top of the fifth. Prior to that, Petey couldn’t get his change-up over for strikes, but he kept on trying, resulting in a couple of walks and unfavorable counts. All that being said, he kept Toronto scoreless through four, not allowing a runner past first base. This changed in the fifth immediately when Tyler Heineman doubled to left to start things off. After whiffing Myles Straw and getting Bo Bichette to ground out to short, it looked like everything was hunky-dory. But while facing Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Peterson doubled over, seemingly in pain. Not knowing he was nauseous and not injured, it was very curious when Mendoza let Petey stay in the game. Peterson was clearly unable to finish his pitches, walking Vladdy Jr. and Anthony Santander to load the bases, yet he still wasn’t taken out. Finally, after plunking Andres Giménez to force in a run, he was mercifully taken out. This was definitely a time when Mendoza’s professed faith in his starters was seriously misguided. Even if he was “just nauseous”, even if the bullpen was “short”, it was absurd he stayed in as long as he did. The self-inflicted wounds and ignoring injuries until they become much, much worse reminded fans of the LOLMets days. 

Fantastic Max Kranick came in to save the day, getting Alejandro Kirk to pop up to the catcher, even though his velocity was notably down - Kranick had thrown 30 pitches just two days prior. He retired all three batters he faced in the 6th, his fastball returning to him by the end, striking out Heineman on a 95.8 mph heater to finish his day. The baton was passed over to Reed Garrett, who came in and also recorded a 1-2-3 inning. A.J. Minter looked a lot better this time around, striking out two batters in the 8th. 

And then Edwin Díaz sauntered into town. Pitching for a second day in a row, he plunked Alan Roden to start the 9th. After striking out Heineman and getting Nathan Lukes to fly to left, Sugar hit Bo Bichette with a pitch too, setting the stage for Vladdy Jr. to bat with runners on 1st and 2nd in the top of the 9th down just one skinny run. Anticlimactically, Vlad hit an innocent ground ball to Lindor off the very first pitch he saw. 

Both of New York’s runs came in the bottom of the third. Hayden Senger had a surprisingly good day, setting the table with a base on balls. After a Francisco Lindor strike out, Juan Soto also drew a walk against Bowden Francis. Then Pete Alonso continued his hot start by singling home Senger and moving Soto to third. A Brandon Nimmo sacrifice fly made it 2-0 Mets, and that was all the team needed.

I’d rather not be someone who complains when the Mets sweep an opponent, so I won’t. The Mets are on pace for a 108-54 season, just like in 1986. No whammy.

Jose Siri started all three games of the series in center field over Tyrone Taylor. Siri went 0 for 8 with two walks, albeit scoring the winning run in Saturday’s game. 

According to Steve Gelbs on the broadcast, Tyrone Taylor congratulated Mendoza on the decision not to go with him the other night when Jesse Winker ended up tripling. Mendy assured him there will be times when he’ll go to him. (We’ll see.)

The Rizzler threw out the first pitch. He threw it plenty of feet in front of the mound and it still bounced. 

The more Juan Soto slumps, the more I believe he’s a Met. Sick, but true. For what it’s worth, he might have broken out of his little slump in his final at-bat yesterday, recording a hustle double. Maybe changing his walk-up music to Bad Bunny’s “EoO” exclusively did the trick.

After the game, Peterson said the doctors didn’t know why he felt sick. He’s at a loss too. That’s a little concerning, no?

The bullpen was “short” yesterday because Ryne Stanek wasn’t available. Bread Boy had warmed up three different times on Saturday and never got in the game. The Mets are going to be careful not overloading Stanek this season, after he was overused by the Mariners last year before he was traded over to New York.

121,771 tickets were sold for the three-game series at Citi Field this past weekend. Anthony DiComo tweeted that’s about 29% higher than the Mets’ first home series last year, and around 21% better than their best three-game series at any point last season. Uncle Steve urged y’all to come and y’all came.

Brett Baty. Sigh. I can’t believe he tricked me AGAIN! He’s 2 for 21 to start the season, striking out eight times and not walking once. James Schiano tweeted that Baty had been down in the count 0-2 in 11 of his 21 plate appearances. Yesterday he swung and missed at a 92mph fastball right down the middle. Something is very wrong. 

Mendoza said the hope is Luis Torrens will recover from his forearm contusion in a “couple of days”. It doesn’t seem too serious, considering he played two innings on Saturday with the injury. Frankie Montas (lat strain) is throwing from 75 feet.

Francisco Lindor attended last night’s Knick game (a win) and swapped jerseys with Mikal Bridges afterwards.

The Triple-A Syracuse Mets lost 8-4 to the Scranton-Wilkes Barre RailRiders (Yankees affiliate). Dedniel Nuñez was charged with a blown save, allowing two earned runs in two thirds of an inning. Fortunately for him, Mendoza said the team isn’t looking at performance with him. They just want to see if he can stay healthy pitching every other day or two. Joey Meneses hit three doubles!

The Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies lost 1-0 to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Blue Jays). Nolan McLean started for Bing and pitched well - in four scoreless innings he struck out eight, allowed three hits and no walks. 

The High-A Brooklyn Cyclones shut down the Wilmington Blue Rocks (Nationals) 4-0. Cyclones pitching limited the Blue Rocks to just two hits. Chris Suero homered and doubled. He’s currently hitting .467.

The Single-A St. Lucie Mets were shut out by the Jupiter Hammerheads (Marlins) 6-0, but the big story was St. Lucie starter Matt Allan. Allan, who hadn’t pitched in a professional game since 2019, went two and two thirds innings, allowing two hits, walking one and striking out five. He allowed no runs. 28 of his 44 pitches were for strikes. His fastball averaged 95.9 mph. 

41 years ago today, 19-year-old Dwight Gooden made his MLB debut. He got the dub, allowing just one run and striking out five in five innings.

The Marlins come to town to face the Mets tonight. First pitch is at 7:10 p.m. eastern. The game will be on SNY. Kodai Senga is scheduled to pitch for the Mets, which means we might have a Senga/Senger battery. The Marlins are going with the always dangerous TBD. (Sandy Alcantara was scheduled to pitch but he’s going on paternity leave. That’s a shame.)