I attended this afternoon’s matinee between the New York Metropolitans and the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park in Washington DC. The Mets won 9-5. RA Dickey got the win and improved to a MLB best 13-1, and Gio Gonzalez fell to a still-impressive 12-5 and took the loss. What follows are observations and notes from the game:
Gio Gonzales had a rough outing. The lefty lasted only 3.1 innings, couldn’t find the strike zone, gave up a couple of blasts, and was totally ineffective. The defense behind him wasn’t great–and we’ll cover that in a minute–but he really didn’t help himself by falling behind, and leaving balls over the plate. Gonzales needs to be way better than he was today if the Nats are to have a chance the rest of the season.
David Wright looked really good. In the first inning, he connected on a no doubter to left center plating two. In the fourth, a 3-run bomb to straight away center. He also made an amazing play, diving into the shortstop position and making a shuffle-toss to second with his back to the infield. It was really impressive and heads up, especially considering his alignment in the shift. Wright nearly earned another highlight after snagging a backhand rocket, but he wound up with a hard luck error after bouncing the throw.
The Nationals outfield defense wasn’t very good. In the Mets 4 run fourth, Mike Morse misplayed a sharply hit routine line drive into 2 runs. And Roger Bernadina had a shot to rob Wright’s second home run, but shared an awkward moment with the wall.
The ball barely made it over the fence and looked catchable the whole way. Instead of getting to the wall and waiting, Bernadina gently hip-checked the padding. It was enough to throw everything out of whack and send him flailing in futility as the ball sailed safely bye. If he had caught it, he almost certainly would have landed in the Sportcenter Top Plays tomorrow. That may be a lot to ask, but he should have come a lot closer than he did.
RA Dickey was solid. He wasn’t spectacular, but he was good and he won. It seemed to me like a good knuckleball day, as it was hot but slighlty breezy. It was difficult to tell from where I was sitting, but based on the Nationals’ swings, Dickey looked like he had a good one going. At least one went flat though, and Ryan Zimmerman hit it a long way over the Mets’ bullpen. Dickey went 7.1 and gave up 10 hits and 3 earned en route to the win. Sadly, he looked absolutely pathetic at the plate.
Drew Storen threw his first inning of the season today. He got all three batters he faced and clocked as high as 92 mph. He pitched well and looked pretty good, all things considered. Welcome back Drew.
I got to see the Infield Club today, an enclosed air-conditioned section behind the second level seats near home plate. There is a lounge area and a bunch of TVs and some food you can’t get anywhere else in the stadium. Now, I’m a purist in the sense that I’m happy with my Italian Sausage, a beer, and watching the whole game from my seat, but I definitely appreciate the appeal of freon in the Infield Club, especially on a day like today. (It was just shy of 100 degrees, again.)
I watched highlights of today’s game on MLB network and the announcer made a point of saying that the game was closer than the score indicates. I don’t really agree. The Nats threatened in the 8th and 9th but it wasn’t really serious and the Mets were in control the whole game. Either way, I had a lot of fun, which is good because I’m going again tomorrow.
-Max Frankel
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