In the early innings Thursday I tweeted out what I hoped would be reassuring counsel to Mets fans unhappy that we weren’t going to sweep four from the Rockies without a fair amount of work:
Noah’s gonna be great, but he’s awfully young and still has some lumps to take. Even Norse gods need to learn stuff. #Mets [1]
— Jason Fry (@jasoncfry) August 13, 2015 [2]
As I noted, Noah Syndergaard [3] is 22 — and he’s a young 22 at that. By comparison, Matt Harvey [4] is 26, while Jacob deGrom [5] is 27. Whether you’re a flame-throwing pitcher or an acquisitions clerk, there’s a big difference between 22 and 26. You’re going to become a substantially different person just by having increased your days spent on Earth by nearly 20%, and you’re also going to learn critical lessons about your chosen profession.
Flame-throwing pitchers, like the rest of us, have to learn about getting along with colleagues and bosses. They also have to learn more specialized things. Their workplaces may have odd and unwritten codes of conduct [6] governing lunch, for instance. That’s a relatively easy lesson; a harder one is learning that not even ungodly stuff will permit you to pitch in predictable patterns. Syndergaaard led with his fastball to excess against Tampa Bay and got smacked around [7]; the same thing happened in the first against Colorado — he threw 10 of 12 fastballs and watched two of them disappear over the fence.
All part of the learning process. And hence my tweet.
There were things I didn’t expect, though. Like Syndergaard taking the lesson to heart in a matter of innings instead of days, for once. He gave up a single to Daniel Descalso [8] to open the second, but then erased Descalso on a double play. Kyle Parker [9] singled, but Syndergaard blew away opposing pitcher Eddie Butler [10] — and didn’t allow another hit until his work was done after seven. He fed the Rockies curves and change-ups early, getting them off-balance, then erased them with that annihilating fastball.
The lesson: It’s nice to have the Hammer of Thor at your disposal, but it’s better to have a whole divine toolkit to choose from. Syndergaard learned today that you can write some pretty satisfying myths using the Screwdriver and Socket Wrench of Thor as well.
Meanwhile, the Mets were hitting the luckless Mr. Butler early and often. A trio of doubles in the first (Daniel Murphy [11], Juan Uribe [12], Kelly Johnson [13]) made the Rockies’ lead disappear, two more (Yoenis Cespedes [14] and Johnson again) followed in the third, and Curtis Granderson [15]‘s fourth-inning homer signaled that the rout was on [16] and the sweep was a reality.
A little more than a month ago (which is a lifetime in this topsy-turvy season), I lamented what the Mets could be [17] if only they were capable of scoring four runs a game. Twelve a game? That will do.
Yes, that will do very nicely.