EL BARRIO, EL BRONX – If you regularly pinch-hit enough are you a pinch-hitter? That’s my tree-falling-with-nobody-around question. Mull that over while I dive into today’s piece. This site used to be a Mets fan site. It was what made Different Matt, well… Different! It is Meet The Matts – like Meet The Mets, right?! I say this because our staff has ask many Yankee fans as Mets fans now and it seems like there have been nothing but Yankee pieces lately. I told Short Matt to tell them to find their own Yankee-friendly site. According to him, though, that conversation went something like this:
So, without complicating things I decided I would do some research and come up with a Mets Season Preview AND keep to my new tried-and-true format of a Song of the Week before getting to the Sports Stuff. That “stuff.” Here we go…
Song of the Week: I couldn’t think of a song that I listened to this week that would fit this piece. Luckily I didn’t have to. I just checked the Billboard archives and here it was. The number song in America the year the Mets won the series in 1986. The inspiring anthem, True Colors by Cyndi Lauper.
Pitching: I’m glad that Noah Syndergaard will be leading the rotation. He reminds of the rap line by Lil Wayne, “I be that same dude all day.” As in what you see is what you get from him. He is not fancy or spotlight-hungry off the field like Matt Harvey. Yet, he has a swagger that is more pronounced than Jacob deGrom’s humble demeanor. And get this: apparently the flame-thrower is working on greater command of his change-up! Following Thor will be deGrom and the always-camera hungry Harvey. The Dark Knight is too much about himself but it is contract year and that will be a big boost for the Mets. If those three average 15 wins and Zack Wheeler can stay out of the doctor’s office now that he’s back, things should be pretty good from the start. At the back end of the rotation are lesser names in Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman, who impressed last season. Steven “Meet The” Matz is injured and will have an extended Spring Training, though. There is no Bartolo “Big Sexy” Colon, as for some godforsaken reason management let him go. With no Jeurys Familia for the first 15 games because of the domestic abuse suspension, Addison Reed will be on closer duty. 15 games will not break the team and the Mets middle relief is good, led by Fernando Salas, they have as good a set-up team as any.
Now on to the everyday guys!
Infield: Behind the plate, Travis d’Arnaud still can’t throw base runners out. He is Piazza without the bat, which leans toward useless. But his game management skills count for something but if back-up Rene Rivera gets hot, look out… At first base Lucas Duda will try not to sneeze himself onto the DL, while the hot corner will again have Jose Reyes in year two of his Mets Revival… Perpetually-injured Captain David Wright is unavailable due to his bad back, neck, quad, calf, wrist, nose, ear, molar and future fractures… Up the middle will be Asdrubal Cabrera and Neil Walker. They are good combination and can hit and field decently and with Wilmer Flores and TJ Rivera as back-ups, these two need to stay healthy and can take days off.
Outfield: The Mets outfield has been set since the end of last year… sort of. There is a healthy Yoenis Cesepedis in left, Curtis Granderson in center and Jay Bruce in right. The big concern is The Grandyman in center field. He is a liability on defense, so expect a lot of late inning substitutions with Juan Lagares coming in – when he gets healthy. If he continues to have a hot bat off the bench expect, Mike Comforto (typo left in by MTM Edit Staff) Michael Conforto to overtake both Lagares and Granderson for center field playing time.
As usual, it will be about great pitching and timely hitting. They also need to fire their medical staff and find a new group. Last year’s group was terrible – again. TV actors were more believable peddling pharmaceuticals.
That is it for now, stay tuned for a man who’ll be talkin’ cheese about last night’s NY Rangers’ loss and “sophomore season” Mets fan, Cheesy Bruin (above with Short Matt) You can also find us on Twitter – @JunoirBlaber & @MeetTheMatts, Instagram -@MeetTheMatts and Facebook– Meet The Matts..
