Hitters In Bloom And Locally Sourced Fruits Of Labor

Bartolo Colon and Kevin Plawecki will deserve every accolade that they get for Thursday’s 5-2 win over the Brewers. Bartolo, for being 43 years old and still twirling quality starts and giving the Mets a chance to win most games he starts. (Though he swung at ball four in the top of the fourth and prevented a big inning … What? He’s a better hitter now, the standards are raised now.) And Plawecki for getting the hit in the 8th to give the Mets a little cushion. Plawecki has struggled, and he has the deleted twitter account to prove it. So he’ll take any hits that he can get.

But to me, Curtis Granderson and Wilmer Flores had the most important developments of the night. Flores, since May 29th when he started playing regularly, is hitting .366 including a 3-for-4 on Thursday. It can’t be a coincidence that Flores, since he’s had a defined role, is not only hitting better but not taking so many defensive swings. It seemed like every swing Flores was taking was just to save himself from the inevitable strikeout. He’s taking much better swings now and he’s getting the results.

Curtis Granderson is the key to this team right now. He had two hits and scored two runs. (One of each of those was via the home run.) If he ever gets going like he did on Thursday, he would wipe out the whole notion that this team relies on the home run. Once the singles that this team does get start driving him home because he’s on base, everything else falls into place. He did it last year … Surely he has a little something left this year. Now of course, other hitters to have to drive him in. Michael Conforto will certainly regret popping up that 2-0 cookie with the bases loaded in that fourth inning that I so callously blamed on Bartolo Colon swinging at ball four. But over a longer sample, Granderson being on base will yield more dividends than regrets.

The big regret Thursday was the nicks and bruises that the team suffered. Granderson was hit in the knee in the fourth inning, and my knee started to hurt just watching it. And Neil Walker left the game after getting hit in the chest with a ground ball. Between those two, Yoenis Cespedes’ hip, Juan Lagares’ thumb (which passed the test of sliding head first into second base on a pinch hit hustle double in the ninth) and all the other injuries that we already know about that players are rehabbing from, this team is becoming an analogy of whatever doctor/zombie show you’re binge watching on Netflix these days. You choose.

The Mets could have probably used some reinforcements from Thursday’s MLB Draft, and most people wanted college ready bats like Conforto anyway. Instead, the Mets took two pitchers at 18 and 31 … Boston College’s Justin Dunn and Connecticut’s Anthony Kay. (They did take a first baseman, Florida’s Pete Alonso at 64.) Dunn and Kay are locals, from Freeport and Stony Brook. How very Atlanta Braves of them to go the local route.

I’m not the draft guy, but the only two observations I’ll make is that the pitchers that have come up through the system in the last 6 or 7 years have had great success partly because of the lessons they’ve learned from the minor league coaching staffs. So taking pitchers may not make much sense right now, but the skill sets of Dunn and Kay, which I know nothing about, will have every chance to blossom in this organization. And who knows … when they’re ready, it might be at a time where the Mets could use pitching instead of bats. I mean … probably not. But you never know. And if they still do need bats, good pitching always lures major league bats in trade. So I have zero problem with these picks. (Like I would have any problems with any picks with my know nothingness.)

When you get picked 19th overall in the #MLBDraft with 34 of your brothers there with you!https://t.co/8fc04P6QIj

— Boston College Baseball (@BCBirdBall) June 10, 2016

If you're still up, make sure you watch Luke's interview with Justin after he is drafted 19th overall https://t.co/b5P8uJekLu

— Boston College Baseball (@BCBirdBall) June 10, 2016

First-round pick Justin Dunn will pitch for Boston College in a Super Regional on Friday at Miami on ESPNU at 5 p.m. ET. #mets

— Adam Rubin (@AdamRubinMedia) June 10, 2016

.@Mets, meet your newest draft pick — #UConn ace Anthony Kay! #HookC pic.twitter.com/6RVucT2STP

— UConn Baseball (@UConnBSB) June 10, 2016

Today’s Hate List

1. Scooter Gennett
2. Steve Chilcott
3. Kirk Presley
4. Shawn Abner
5. Eddie Kunz