Big Texan

Sure, we all know Noah Syndergaard as “Thor”. Norse God of fastballs.

https://vine.co/v/e9OBF0IrX3e

But with that first pitch last night that buzzed Alcides Escobar, Noah Syndergaard showed us his other alter ego: Nasty Shit-Kicking Texan. The Mets have had enough of these moments where that Texas attitude hurt them … and that’s just between Roger Clemens and Josh Beckett alone. And Syndergaard took that Nasty Texan attitude and sent a message to the Royals to start Game 3. Maybe it carried the Mets to victory.

Mark DeRosa made a very interesting point on MLB Network about throwing inside and being intimidated. When his 2010 Giants were thrown at in the playoffs by the Phillies in the NLCS, those Giants made it a point to clear the bench. Not to cause mayhem or fight, but to make a point that they weren’t going to back down. And he swears it worked. Syndergaard’s close shave of Escobar? Maybe it served that purpose. It made Mike Moustakas mad on the bench, but who cares. They didn’t clear the bench as the 2010 Giants did.

It's refreshing to see a current pitcher that answered like an old timer! Thoooorrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

— Pedro Martinez (@45PedroMartinez) October 31, 2015

Who knows what it did to the Mets psyche. Maybe it relaxed them to the point where they could go out there and swing without fear. Was it a coincidence that after Syndergaard’s keynote address … even though the Royals did score in that first inning, the previously slumping David Wright brought back a swing from 2006 to give the Mets the lead with a long home run? Maybe. Maybe not. We get too caught up in psyche, and I wish we could eliminate the word “mindset”, which has become a lazy way to ask a question because nobody can ask an intelligent question about actual baseball anymore. But one thing I do know is that the first pitch of the game definitely didn’t hurt. Not down 0-2 in the World Series.

Sure, the Royals made enough contact to make Syndergaard and the Mets uncomfortable. But Noah settled in for a stretch of brilliance, and ended his night by getting out of a bases loaded two out jam in the sixth in what would be the key moment of the game to hold a two run lead Iso generally granted to him by a Curtis Granderson two run homer and a Michael Conforto infield single) just before the Mets put it away with a huge rally in the bottom of the inning which included a key hit by the previously hurting Juan Uribe. And now the Mets are all of a sudden back in the series, and made tonight’s Game 4 crucial. As I said before, win this game and now Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom face the Royals on regular rest and not a ton of rest, perhaps making all the difference. (That and throwing more fastballs and worrying more about location than scouting reports.)

But two things that are important going into Games 4 and 5: Steven Matz, who slept at his mom’s house in Long Island to prepare for tonight’s start, and Josh Lewin, who hired a private jet to fly from Sunday’s Chargers game in San Diego to get to New York in time to call Game 5. I can confirm these two news items because they were given to me by a Mets fan at Penn Station after Game 3. A Mets fan who would shake hands with anybody and everybody wearing Mets paraphenalia after a big win. That buzz has been missing in the city for me. It’s here now. This was preceded by another Mets fan on the train showing me a meme on his phone about how the first three games of the 2015 Series have had the same margin of victory as the first three games in 1986. This city is getting interesting, much like this series.

Today’s Hate List

FOX Sports: Jeez Louise, this crew was especially unbearable during Game 3, especially when Joe Buck waxed poetic on how cool it must have been for Billy Joel, who sang the anthem before the game, to hear a stadium full of people sing Piano Man at the top of their lungs. Awesome. It’s only the 10,000th time that has happened to Billy Joel.