Put It In The Medical Records

With the Mets having just gone down 3-2 in the sixth inning, Juan Lagares made a terrific diving catch to end the inning, save two runs, and provided the true margin of victory. It was then that I opened my big mouth to some friends that I was watching the game with:

“You know, he could have really hurt his hand on that with his fingers pointing towards the ground.”

“Oh yeah. I’ve seen wrists broken that way.”

God, hearing this, decided that He was going to put some swelling in Lagares’ thumb just to piss me off. All while laughing sadistically on His perch high above heaven or wherever His vacation spot his these days. It was just enough swelling to force Terry Collins to pull him from the game, after Yoenis Cespedes was already a late scratch with a sore hip. The Mets’ depth was tested. And usually when that happens, we get Eric Campbell and John Mayberry Jr. in the middle of the order against Clayton Kershaw. But this time, we have options that are marginally better. Is it saying a lot? Perhaps not. But it says something when Jacob deGrom is pinch hitting with the bases loaded in a 6-3 game and I’m sitting at home thinking “okay, this ain’t too bad.”

Michael Conforto, the late replacement for Cespedes, seems to be slowly climbing out of whatever worm hole his inherently fickle batting skills have put him in. His sac fly tied the game at 2-2 in the sixth. And then after Hansel Robles let the Marlins take the lead again in the bottom of the frame, Conforto’s single in the eighth tied the game again and set the Mets depth up to be the heroes of the day. Matt Reynolds drove in his first major league run with a hard single to right field. Then in the ninth after I implored the Mets to get some runs on freakin’ Cody Hall for heaven’s sake, Alejandro de Aza smacked a double that one hopped over the wall and drove in two runs to make it 6-3, and gave Collins the cushion to say “Y’know what, I’m going to pinch hit deGrom here. Why not.” deGrom popped up to end the threat, but the comfort in knowing that this chance could be taken was good enough for me.

Good thing for the Mets depth (including Wilmer Flores heating up with three hits), it saved Hansel Robles from being the goat, and it saved Kevin Plawecki from getting some sort of “FullMurph” award after he turned a force play at home into a tag play and let a run score, and then got picked off second base after a double. If he didn’t have a Bartolo Colon game plan to worry about then he would have clinched the Murph award. (Maybe he’ll regret sharing that he spent his off day in the Bahamas, right?) But as it was, it was a 25 man effort to save the injured and the vapor locked. Tomorrow the Mets get to face Jose Fernandez, but already up two in the series. Matt Harvey will try to continue his turnaround from struggle, so let’s hope that he stays on his current path. And let’s hope, amongst the rubble of all the injuries and unfounded rumors of appearances by Roger Bernadina, that I don’t say something stupid like “Hey, good thing Harvey hasn’t felt pain in his shoulder for a while.”

Today’s Hate List

1. Martin Prado
2. Christian Yelich
3. Kyle Barraclough
4. Cody Hall
5. Hanley Ramirez