First Five

In his return from exile, Noah Syndergaard threw one slider, then four fastballs, and got three outs. And as far as anybody knows, he suffered zero injuries. Everybody exhaled.

This will be chronicled in SNY’s upcoming new original program: Five Pitches In Flushing.

Matt Harvey came in to mop up, and gave up three runs in four innings. For Harvey, this is considered an improvement. Had some pop, location got a little better, still gave up long home runs to Adam Lind and Matt Wieters. Was somewhere between the Dark Knight and a batting practice machine.

Jeurys Familia pitched well on the back end of a back-to-back night. Fastball hummed, off speed stuff got nasty, and he was only burned once on a quick pitch. Sounds like a World Series game we know and well, but on September 23rd against the Nationals down by 26 games, we’ll take it.

Jacob Rhame also pitched. He was brought here in exchange for Curtis Granderson in the hope that he could compete for a bullpen job in 2018. In 2017, he gave up a home run to Daniel Murphy to give the Nationals the lead for good. (Don’t feel bad, Jacob … giving up a home run to Murphy is simply your rite of passage.) Travis Taijeron had a chance to win the game with a runner on against Sean Doolittle, but Travis Taijeron is no Craig Brazell.

But after the first five pitches were thrown without incident, the rest hardly mattered. Sleep well, Mets fans. Eight to go.

Today’s Hate List

1. Trea Turner