Ghosted

Kodai Senga was almost a victim of human nature on Sunday. Imagine waiting for something for four years, as Kodai did as 2019 was when he originally wanted to be posted. Then, you get to that point where you’re going to get what you waited for, but now you have to wait an extra half hour because the bus is slow. Or Amazon is late. Or there’s paperwork to sorth through. Now you have a combination of nervousness, excitment, and an urge to primally scream.

Now you have to take that nervous energy, and perform an athletic endeavor where you have to combine the forcefulness of a bull with the pinpoint accuracy of a gecko. That’s what Senga had to do after the Mets grinded the gears to get him two runs in the top of the first after Jeff McNeil rolled a ball to Trevor Rogers who turned the third out into a clown car. As they were scratching out these two runs, Senga was jumping up and down in the dugout to the point where he was almost quite literally “bouncing off the walls”. Seeing him jump around made me thought “uh-oh”.

Sure enough, Senga came in and went single, RBI double, walk, walk to lead off his major league career. But then, Loan Depot Park was visited by a friendly ghost, not to be confused with all the ghosts that came to sit in the empty seats. Senga struck out Yuli Gurriel with the bases loaded, and got Gurriel to lose the bat in the process. Then he struck out Jesus Sanchez for the second out before getting out of his predicament with a line out to right. To come out of a first career inning where the first four batters reached base and only give up one run was incredible.

Now add this: He lasted 4 and 2/3’s more innings and gave up one hit the rest of the way (to Luis Arraez, of course.) He also struck out six more batters for a total of eight … all on the ghost fork, and he would make Gurriel lose his bat again in the process. The Marlins might be a free swinging team, and I’m sure the rest of the league will adjust to him. But Senga has such a full arsenal of pitches, I’m sure he’ll adjust right back. And even though the Mets have had him concentrate on just having 4 or 5 pitches, you never know when he’ll take another one of his pitches to make a special appearance when he really needs it. It’s hard not to be excited about the possibilities.

Worst case, Senga zooms up the charts to become Rob Friedman’s favorite pitcher.

You know it’s a good pitch when a pitcher does this to Yuli Gurriel, who has a 6.7% swinging strike rate for his entire major league career. https://t.co/FsUZSuRuZd

— Astros Stats (@astro_numbers) April 2, 2023

2 More Ghost Fork Ks for Kodai Senga. 👻🍴 pic.twitter.com/GbPharX3u6

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 2, 2023

Kodai Senga, 97mph Fastball and 85mph Ghost Fork, Overlay. 😯 pic.twitter.com/C4OLiSUQzk

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 2, 2023

Kodai Senga, Disgusting 85mph Ghost Fork. 🤮👻🍴

5th K thru 4 pic.twitter.com/yumuVGXaiu

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 2, 2023

Bend the Knee before Senga's Ghost Fork. 👻🍴

6th and 7th Ks (all on the Ghost Fork) pic.twitter.com/XzYUAnuxHv

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 2, 2023

Most strikeouts by a #Mets pitcher in his MLB debut:

Matt Harvey: 11 (2012)
Collin McHugh: 9 (2012)
Bill Denehy: 8 (1967)
Tom Seaver: 8 (1967)
KODAI SENGA: 8 (2023) https://t.co/MojTggTJ9I

— Mathew Brownstein (@MBrownstein89) April 2, 2023

With all the ghost forks, I sincerely hope Sam Darnold wasn’t watching.

The offense after the first inning was provided by the two Mets who you would expect to provide offense all season. Those Mets, of course, were Tommy Pham and Tim Locastro. Pham’s two run HR drove in Locastro in the 5th, and Pham’s double drove in Locastro in the 7th, and that’s more than enough for what the Mets needed to take the series against the Fish. Dennis Santana, John Curtiss, and Steven Nogosek held the Marlins flat and saved the big bullpen arms for the Milwaukee series. They’ll be needed, as the Brewers have big, hairy guys like Luke Voit, Rowdy Tellez, and Jesse Winker, who I’m sure will be angling for a trade to be close to his favorite fan base very soon.

Today’s Hate List

1. Anthony Rendon
2. Madison Bumgarner
3. Luis Arraez
4. Von Hayes
5. Brad Wilkerson