One For The Vets

I’m rooting for the kids. I want the kids to have long and prosperous careers, and I want those careers to take place primarily at 41 Seaver Way in Flushing, New York.

But when the veterans are a key part of a victory like the one on Wednesday night, that really makes me smile. Because I’m rooting for them too. Sure, I think Dniel Vogelbach might be playing a little too much, especially when it comes at the expense of Mark Vientos getting at-bats against righties, who he hits better against. But it’s gotten to the point where Vogey and Mark Canha get so much hate online that it makes me laugh, and I root extra hard for those guys to come through.

And they came through tonight. Aaron Nola was dominant in two innings. Got five infield pop-ups to start the game. Had a 1-0 lead on an Edmundo Sosa home run. Then Vogey led off the third with a walk, which is the one thing he really excels at. Yeah, he’s become early career Lucas Duda where all he does is look for a walk, but he got one off one of the better pitchers this league has to offer. And it set up Canha, whose clutch hits last year couldn’t buy him a two week slump before people were calling for him to be discarded to the street like common street trash. (As opposed to rare street trash.)

Mark Canha puts the Mets on top with a two-run blast! 💪 pic.twitter.com/7ARWB3Pe4h

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 31, 2023

Canha also had a two run single later in the game to make it 4-1, and the pitching took it from there. Cookie Carrasaco is another vet that gets a lot of grief, and some of it is understandable as he has not been good due to injury and ineffectiveness. But he’s come through in his last two starts, going 12 and 2/3’s while giving up two runs. Tonight, he went six innings and scattered six hits, only giving up the one run on the Sosa home run. And good news, it wasn’t in the first … I guess that’s more grief. Sorry, Cookie.

Give credit to the bullpen and defense as well. Francisco Lindor and Brett Baty were more than solid defensively, contributing to one of the best defensive infielders in the league. And while Brooks Raley was a little wobbly in the 7th, he got four outs while Adam Ottavino finished off the 8th. David Robertson meanwhile, pitched out of a jam in the 9th inning that was created by a fluke hit off his glove, and an 0-2 curveball to Kody Clemens that was desiged to be a back foot wipe out pitch, but instead hit his front foot. But give Robertson credit. On a back-to-back night, that bad luck coudl have mentally drained him and caused a meatball to be thrown. Instead, Robertson was dominant against the next two hitters and the Mets skipped away with their second straight win, and their 7th straight series win against the Phillies.

The Mets are going to need everybody … not just the seven players you like. They’re going to need all of their starting pitching to come through (especially Scherzer.) They’re going to need guys like Canha, Eduardo Escobar, and Tommy Pham to get some key hits down the road. I think that in the long run … definition of long being about two months … Vogey is going to be with another organization. He’s turning into more and more of a redundancy on the roster. Sadly, Vogey could go on the tear of his life over the next month, and I think he’ll still be gone. That’s the way it goes, and with the kids coming up and taking over, that’s the way it was always going to be. For the time being however, they’ll need Vogey to contribute as well. Tonight was a start.

Today’s Hate List

This is a real quote (not a FAX SPORTS generated meme), and I genuinely hate it:

Noah Syndergaard is going through it right now pic.twitter.com/MjF3gADtRW

— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) May 31, 2023

I don’t hate it because I think for a second that Noah Syndergaard would actually trade a human being that he created for the opportunity to have a 101 mph fastball again. But it shows you the frailty of the human condition. Baseball is a beautiful game, but it provides a constant reminder that nothing lasts forever. It’s just like life, except that you and I start to wish that we were 23 years old again when we get to our fifties. Noah Syndergaard is 30 years old. Has the bulk of his life ahead of him. And he wants to be 23 again. That’s the part of baseball that crushes people.

I hate this because he’s an old friend who represented the uniform with class, and was ready to go down with the ship while he was here. Any angst that exists about the way he left the Mets, or any dumb tweets he had (not that there was much of that on my part), has washed away. I hate to see an old friend hurt like this.

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Also, I hate that I gotta see Luis Rojas spit out a yellow piece of gum close up.

Can’t we get AI to blur this out? It’s disgusting on many levels and I don’t need to see it.