Noah Syndergaard gave us his first career complete game against the Giants in a 4-1 victory to close out the series. He gave up two hits, one run, one walk and struck out 11. His 114 pitches were one short of his season high, only difference is he only went five and 2/3’s on August 17th against the Phillies while giving up four runs (and making me look like an idiot). The only people he made look like idiots were the nine men that comprised the San Francisco Giants lineup on Sunday.
I know I’ve always said “never trust September numbers”. I stand by it, certainly when you talk about back up catchers who hit .220 all year but hit .280 against September call-ups and we’re all supposed to get excited. But that game Syndergaard threw would have beaten any team, in any month, in any year. Noah was outstanding in his efficiency, pitch selection, and effortlessness. He has always been a pitcher and not just a thrower. Yet many times he relied on his fastball to get him through games because he’s The Mighty Thor. On Sunday, he relied on his off-speed stuff, which is plus stuff, and confused the hell out of the Giants. Then made it to the eighth and ninth inning throwing 99 mph like he was in the backyard playing catch. It was sublime.
Apologies for continuing to harp on this, but the entire starting rotation is clicking right now. The Mets have struck out double digit batters for seven straight starts now. Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom are anchoring this team next season. Zack Wheeler isn’t going anywhere. If Steven Matz can ever get out of his own head and pitch consistently like he did on Saturday, then we finally have our dream rotation. But the Mets have nothing else to match … not even close. What the Mets will probably do is roll with the same exact team as 2018 in 2019, and use the last seven games as evidence as this is the right thing to do.
But let’s keep this in mind: If you take out June, the Mets are 56-54. Some have used this logic to say “whoa was us if June wasn’t on the calendar the Mets would be a good team.” Two games over .500 at this point in the season makes the Mets slightly better than the Washington Nationals … six and a half behind the division leaders. The Giants are seven and a half games back. Is this what we want to be? And that’s if we use your Pollyanna vision of just taking out the bad stretch. If you’re taking out 5-21, then let’s take out 11-1 as well, because if you’re not as bad as June, you’re not as good as April. The Mets are 45-53 in that scenario. That’s more indicative of what the Mets are going into next season.
Do you think that a half-season of a healthy Yoenis Cespedes is enough to go from 45-53 to a team that will battle … strongly … for a playoff spot? A division lead? He’ll help, but it’s not enough. And it would be a shame to see what Syndergaard did today and what the rest of the rotation (even Jason Vargas) and waste it on a team that doesn’t significantly improve next season. That’s why the team kept the pitchers in the first place, right? So they can compete?
Noah Syndergaard threw down the hammer and the gauntlet today. It’s time to compete. Fully.
Today’s Hate List
- Oh we’re going to Los Angeles?
- Get ready for a full three days
- of good ol’ fashioned
- Chase Utley hate.
- Hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate …
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
