A theme that was prevalent about the unveiling of the beautiful Tom Seaver statue before today’s home opener was that it “took too long”. “Long overdue” was another one. It’s a reminder that Tom should have been alive to see this. As great as the ceremony was and as much as it was visually stunning to see the presentation, there will always be a sense for me that there was something, or somebody missing.
It all means we should be thankful that the timeline has been reset with the switch in ownership and that all things now are not as they were then, and that all the things that are still a result of the previous plane of existence will just require some defragging, or at least they will fade away over time.
On to the actual home opener, which also doubled as Jackie Robinson Day due to baseball’s owners fighting for the right not to pay minor leaguers a living wage. (And also led to the broadcast booth to not know who the Diamondbacks pitcher was because as they all looked alike to them while wearing 42, but in the end they got it right … hell I didn’t realize that Sean Reid-Foley was the ninth inning pitcher until everybody started booing him). It also doubled as Covid Awareness Day as we’re reminded that there is still a pandemic going on as two-thirds of the sorta regular outfield had to miss the game. One of them was Mark Canha:
— Marci Canha (@marcicanha) April 15, 2022
The other outfielder was Brandon Nimmo, and with his vaccination status in constant question, this qualifies as what would have been labeled as the most predictable plot twist ever if it was in a Netflix series. But in what is becoming more and more predictable, the Mets got another very good pitching performance from a starter and combined that with some very good at-bats in a 10-3 Mets victory. Chris Bassitt gave up two hits and two walks in six innings, only giving up a home run to Daulton Varsho with the Mets already having a healthy lead..
That lead was healthy thanks to a couple of sac flies from Pete Alonso to give the Mets a 2-0 lead, and then Robinson Cano’s first home run since 2020 (extenuating circumstances not withstanding) to give the Mets a 3-0 lead in the 4th, and Francisco Lindor’s first home run of the day, a two run shot to make it a 5-0 game before Varsho’s home run. From there, Eduardo Escobar drove in a run in the 7th off his former team with a double to make it 6-1. Then in the 8th, Starling Marte, who had three hits on the day and put together some great at-bats, salted it away with a three run blitz to make it 9-1. Lindor’s second homer of the day was the icing on the cake, and gave him a home run from each side of the plate. Also contributing to the good at-bats was Kid Rock Jankowski getting three hits as he helped fill the holes in the outfield today.
The two runs the Diamondbacks scored in the 9th might be trivia questions one day, if the Diamondbacks are lucky. I don’t know what the question would be, but I’m sure Tim Kurkjian will come up with something. The bottom line is that the Mets are now 6-2, and whoever decided the Mets would play Washington and Arizona in the second and third week of the season really wound up doing us a favor (although they did the Braves the same favor and they lost two of three to them … maybe those gigantic f***ing rings they got are weighing down their bodies and their souls). Gary Apple said that the Mets should welcome the Diamondbacks on a daily basis, but that’s not how the Major League Baseball schedule works. Although I have a feeling that when the Mets shift to a more challenging schedule, that we’re going to find out that they’re not a product of their schedule. They’re a good team. Not a mirage team that the Wilpons put together. There’s a good roster of players to go along with the statue … both things we should have had for a long, long time.
Today’s Hate List
1. Jeff Wilpon
2. Everyone else is a distant second
(Photo credit: SNY)
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