La Propenso a Lesiones

I’ve been thinking a lot over the last week or so how nice it is to see Yoenis Cespedes play baseball with two legs. He was 11 for his last 18 entering Friday night, he was going from first to third on singles, and he was sliding in the outfield. Slowly but surely, he was coming around to the player we all know he can be because we’ve seen it before.

Well, take those memories with you to the winter, because we won’t see it again after tonight if the Mets are smart (I know, I know). Cespedes pulled up lame rounding third base on a first inning base hit and had to leave the game. In true Mets fashion, the single hit the umpire on the way to the outfield which, by rule, rendered it a dead ball. So Cespedes didn’t even have to round third. So basically, he strained his hamstring on a dead ball. I know we’ve been hard on the Mets’ medical staff, and with good reason. But this is just unexplainable at this point. And pointless to even complain about at this point. Just keep Yoenis away from a baseball field until spring, please? It really doesn’t matter if Matt Reynolds is playing left field the rest of the season and they have to sign Jeff Francoeur and Jonny Gomes to sit on the bench, tell stories to the children, and be ready in case of a MRSA outbreak. (Has that square been blotted on the Mets Injury Bingo Card yet?)

Jacob deGrom went through the Nationals “Flew In At 6AM” lineup to the tune of ten strikeouts, five hits, one walk and one run in seven and 2/3’s with dominant stuff (good thing they had nine relievers on the roster to back him up rather than having an outfielder to cover for Cespedes’ inevitable injury). Jerry Blevins got the final out in the eighth as he struck out Daniel Murphy on a curveball, sending Murphy to an 0-for-4 evening against the Mets (which are rarer than solar eclipses.) A.J. Ramos took a 4-1 lead in the ninth but gave up a home run to Adam Lind then loaded the bases with a creaky slider that showed us how “A.J.” might possibly stand for a ninth inning where you’ve been “Armando John Franco’d”. But he got Howie Kendrick to line out hard to Brandon Nimmo, and then struck out Andrew Stevenson on an off speed pitch that actually landed in the strike zone for a 4-2 victory over Washington (also rarer than a solar eclipse).

More good news: Juan Lagares stole two bases without tearing an ACL or contracting malaria.

Today’s Hate List

1. Adam Lind
2. Andrew Stevenson
3. A.J. Cole
4. Adrian Sanchez
5. Alejandro de Aza (yeah, he’s a National.)