We could talk about Sean Manaea looking superb in a way that no Met starter looked against the Brewers, pitching aggressively and keeping the Tigers bothered and bewildered for six innings, with the lone blemish a sharp Andy Ibanez single to left with two out in the fifth — though that situation happily healed itself almost instantly, as Brandon Nimmo threw Carson Kelly out at the plate to preserve what was then a 0-0 tie. By the way, you want to be a catcher? Kelly — who plays that position for Detroit — slid hard into Francisco Alvarez at the plate, wrenching Alvarez’s head and neck to the side, got tagged hard in the nuts or uncomfortably thereabouts, and watched as his counterpart held onto the ball.
We could talk about Alvarez, who coolly made the kind of play it feels like catchers don’t make anymore, then showed the most offensive life the Mets displayed all night with a hustle double a few minutes after his close encounter with Kelly, not to mention a growing awareness of the strike zone and the need not to expand it in his other at-bats.
We could talk about Starling Marte, who looks better than he’s looked since that dreadful day two Septembers ago when a Mitch Keller fastball hit him in the hand and we didn’t yet know the Mets’ rocket ride had reached its apogee. We could talk about Brett Baty, who turned in a couple of crisp plays at third and looked like he had a plan at the plate, making you hope he’s finally ready to get out of his own way.
We could talk about those things, but who’d listen? Because the top of the 10th inning erased them all. With one out and the idiotic Manfred man having moved to third, Michael Tonkin in rapid succession a) hit old friend Mark Canha (this time at least the pitch behind an opponent’s back actually did get away); b) watched Joey Wendle make a dreadful error at second; c) instinctively tried to spear a high bounder from Gio Urshela and so turned an inning-ending double play into all hands being safe; d) almost managed the impossible task of walking Javier Baez, forcing himself to shrink the strike zone and giving up a sac fly; and e) surrendered a three-run bomb to Kelly that left the Mets five runs down and the fans jamming in the aisles in their haste to reach a safe distance.
Tonkin will have better days … well, provided he didn’t use them all up last year as a Brave, which is the kind of thing I think about all too often. Wendle can’t really do worse than a Mets debut that would make Mac Scarce or Chan Ho Park blanch, or at least I really hope he can’t.
Hell, I don’t know what will happen to those two: Baseball is cruel and confounding, with this 0-4 start just the latest reminder of that essential truth. What I do know is the Mets’ season is less than a week old and I’m relieved that they’re unlikely to be able to play baseball for the next two nights.
To be clear, I mean play baseball in the sense of “stand at the plate gripping a bat without being in danger of drowning,” not play baseball in the sense of “compete against another baseball team without it ending with an embarrassing and/or infuriating outcome.” So far the 2024 Mets have shown no indication that they can accomplish the latter in any kind of weather.
Well, getting off to a strong start hasn’t worked out that well recently, so maybe it’s time to try something different. Don’t worry, there’s a plan!
“Don’t worry, there’s a plan!”
So say we all.
“Custer had a plan, too.”
— Russell (Harold Ramis), Stripes 1981
“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”
Mike Tyson, D. Phil.
“Sometimes a Great Notion”
– Ken Kesey
Steve Cohen had no 50th year celebration of our 1973 Mets.
Nobody wants his crappy casino.
All the fans have caught on to this guy. Karma’s a b—-, man.
He says “Hope is not a Strategy, Ok,” but that appears to be his strategy all along. He is correct, though, as hope may turn into no-hope pretty quickly.
Hey, look on the bright side.
If we are still 3 GB at the end of the season, we are probably in the playoffs.
Good thing Guillorme was sent packing. Wendle looks great.
“The Manfred man” is the greatest thing I’ve read in some time!
Certainly better than the “free runner” as Gary calls him. Ain’t nothing free about that runner…
We seem to be made to suffer. It’s our lot in life.
As ugly as the games have been, they pale in comparison to the abject hideousness of the names on the back of uniforms. Whoever decided on not only the font, but that it had to be worn by all teams should be permanently unemployable.
I was never onboard with the Mendoza hire…but I’m willing to give it a little more time in hopes he proves me wrong.
Just want to put that out there.
Re Mendoza:
An 0-4 start concentrates the mind most wonderfully.
Didn’t former Mets CEO Fred Wilpon used to always say, “We have a plan!”?
By the way, with the Mets’ less-than-auspicious beginning, I suspect that Fred and Jeff (remember him?) are experiencing a great sense of schadenfreude right now.
The Marlins are 0-7, if that makes anyone feel better. I’m all about feeling better.
Fantastic blog; been a Mets fan since 1972 and have been beaten down enough that I finally only watch peripherally.
You gotta believe after last year’s fire sale, the next two years are just filler.
Everyone’s optimism ( or lack of fait accompli of a lost 2 years ) makes me feel old and more pessimistic than I already am.
Onward to 2026.
And the Marlins have Tim Anderson, which makes one doubly happy about their record.
Even happier if tomorrow’s doubleheader draws less fans than a home game in Oakland.
Serves MLB right for boring us to tears by everyone playing everyone and having no future dates to make up this slop.