You knew it would be a weird night right off the bat with the game on Apple TV and Juan Soto, knowing he was mic’d up, begged Apple for free iPads and phones. And soon after that, the lights went out which caused a 14 minute delay to the game. Maybe if the Nationals weren’t still paying Matt Wieters, Rafael Soriano, and Max Scherzer in deferred payments, perhaps they could afford some decent lights or some technology for their players. Funny how you didn’t see Francisco Lindor beg Apple for free stuff because the Mets actually pay their major league players a living wage.
Speaking of Scherzer, hey! He was going against his former team for the first time since he left the Nationals. And he was okay. He struck out six in six inning stint while giving up three runs. Two of these runs came on a 443 foot bomb by Josh Bell which tied the game at 3-3 after Jeff McNeil’s home run in the 3rd and Robinson Cano’s two run single in the 4th. Scherzer, great as he is, is going to give up bombs. We’re probably going to have to get used to that (although I’m sure that collectively, we won’t.) But for an opener after after a short spring, I’ll teke it. Hell, I wasn’t expecting three perfect games right off the bat. It’s a long season.
After the Bell home run, the Mets took the lead right back in the 5th on a triple by Brandon Nimmo and a double by Starling Marte. Then, all hell broke loose.
Steve Cishek throws a dangerous pitch to Lindor, a day after Pete Alonso was hit in the face, and we have the first benches clearing incident of 2022 pic.twitter.com/YLXplPB7GD
— Baseball Fight Club (@mlbfights) April 9, 2022
So apparently, after two Mets got hit last night by wild pitches, Buck Showalter smoothed things over a little bit with Davey Martinez. But then this happens and Buck, justifiably, is pissed. And he went right out there, didn’t he? He wanted to go Will Smith on somebody. (Not the Dodgers’ Will Smith, and not the Braves’ Will Smith either. Google it.) Last night you saw Marte beef a little bit about it, but to have the manager get right out there and defend his team and be right in the middle of it was inspiring. I want to run through a wall for him and I don’t even play baseball. I feel like Luis “Smart Water” Rojas would have been wandering around the field with a look on his face like he doesn’t know which room his dog is hiding in, and Handsome Art Howe would have been too busy texting his reenactment of the Village People fan fiction he was reading before the game instead of taking notes on pitch strategy.
I only wish that the Apple TV broadcast didn’t feel the need to play the video 10.000 times, having us hear Lindor saying “oh my God” every time. But it was cool to hear the mic’s up Lindor tell his teammates that he appreciated every single one of them. I guess that means there will be no Ronald Acuna/Freddie Freeman controversies in the future.
Buck don’t like them high and tights on his players. He protected us the same way. Don’t expect anything less @Mets pic.twitter.com/qLepKoOCSM
— 10 (@SimplyAJ10) April 9, 2022
Look, nobody on the Nationals is doing this on purpose, much less Steve Cishek who is a veteran in this league. (I mean, I’m going to put him on the Hate List anyway, but still.) Here’s the thing though: If you have pitchers like Mason Thompson and Andres Machado who don’t have enough ability to throw a baseball that doesn’t hit someone in the face even at the low point of their control, then they shouldn’t be in the major leagues. And if three of my players get hit in the face, whether directly or a glance off the shoulder, I’d be pissed off too. I don’t know what you do about it these days because retaliating will get you fined and suspended (and the Mets can’t really afford Scherzer to do that), and it’s also frowned upon. If it has something to do with the crackdown on Spider-Tac, then Major League Baseball needs to worry about that immediately before they sell more games to streaming services.
(Cishek was ejected from the game, and after Adam Hamari ejected Noah Syndergaard in ’16, I have no sympathy.)
But through all of this, I would be genuinely disappointed if we didn’t have a cage match at some point between Showalter and Larry Bowa. I mean, the Nationals will come and go but our battles with the Phillies end when all battles end. And even though Bowa isn’t officially with the Phillies anymore, you know he still wants to have Daniel Murphy plunked in the ribs. So let’s just set this up now. Buck vs Bowa. Terry Collins can be Buck’s Classy Freddie Blassie. Larry Anderson can dress up as Ted DiBiase on the other side. Jason Vargas can be the special guest referee. Rhys Hoskins can provide the outside interference because he would do that. Tony Khan needs to make this happen. I’ll tune in to Apple TV+ for this.
Starling Marte.
pic.twitter.com/fhbl15lO4u— Mike Mayer (@mikemayer22) April 9, 2022
Marte made it 6-3 in the 6th with a two run single to make it 6-3, and it continued a very early trend of Mets knocking in runners in scoring position by simply putting the bat on the ball. I understand we’re two games in. But what a refreshing change as it pertains to last season, where everybody wanted to send the ball to the moon. After a rain delay, Jeff McNeil continued the trend with an RBI single up the middle, and the Mets would cruise to a 7-3 win. Perhaps Dom Smith will get some at-bats against Joan Adon. perhaps I’ll figure out what Gilmore Girls episode Hannah Keyser was talking about, because “Dark Day” just doesn’t sound right. Perhaps I won’t drive myself to fact check a Gilmore Girls episode during a baseball broadcast. Tune in tomorrow to find out.
Today’s Hate List
1. Steve Cishek
2. Davey Martinez
3. Gerrit Cole
4. Kelbert Ruiz
5. Yadiel Hernandez
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