We’re all depressed about what’s going on in the world regarding the COVID-19 outbreak, and baseball has become collateral damage. We all need to escape, and now you can read this blog in the alternate: the one where global pandemics were a myth and baseball was around no matter what. We’re imagining the 2020 Mets season as if everything was normal. Enjoy these works of fiction.
The news we feared the most came today. Noah Syndergaard is out for the season.
The announcement came before today’s game against the Pirates.
“Under the advice of Dr. Andrews, we’re here to announce that Noah Syndergaard will undergo Tommy John surgery and will miss the next 9-12 months. We hope to have him throwing by Opening Day 2021. Noah is disappointed, as we all are. But in the last few days, he started to feel some discomfort in his elbow, and Dr. Andrews concluded that surgery is the best option at this time.” -Brodie
So we got three good weeks and one decent month. Was it worth Syndergaard missing the first two months of his walk year? Was it a case of the “health and performance team” not using the proper levels of caution? Or was this a case of Syndergaard’s hubris and workout routine fool him into thinking that he can pitch through this season? Or was it a matter of thinking that this was going to be a Masahiro Tanaka type situation, where he’s been pitching with a torn UCL since practically birth? I guess we’ll never know.
“Just to be clear, this isn’t anybody’s fault. Our doctors gave me nothing but the best advice and at no time did I feel that I was taking an unnecessary risk here. I just think it’s one of those things.”
But this is really no time for blame anyway, since I’m sure that Mike Puma will come out with an exposé on the matter sometime in the next four weeks, and it’ll involve Brodie’s couch.
But the one thing that all Syndergaard’s muscles couldn’t do was keep him from breaking down at the podium this morning.
“I’m heartbroken, to be honest. We started out the season so well. I had that start in Houston and I thought that we were in for a special season. And we still are, but I’m going to miss it and I feel bad that I can’t be there for the team and the fans.”
(Editor’s note: Every year. Every goddamed year!)
The news certainly put a damper on the afternoon, and not even the pre-game ceremonies that put Jon Matlack, Ron Darling, and Edgardo Alfonzo could lift our collective spirits. Today’s game was a mess as Marcus Stroman just plain didn’t have it. He’s been excellent since moving up to be the second starter, and considering the circumstances, it’s certainly understandable that this game would fall under the “everyone has a bad day” theorem because in Flushing, everyone had a bad day on May 17th. Stroman gave up seven runs in three and 1/3 to the Pirates, with the big blows being a three run triple by Jarrod Dyson in the second and a two run HR by Jacob Stallings in the fourth which knocked Stroman out of the game.
The rest of the game was basically Robert Gsellman and Walker Lockett taking one for the team as the Mets went down to a very forgettable 14-3 defeat. Steven Matz’s reward for not being a pest about his role is that he now gets the title of “most important Met of 2020 as he returns to the rotation on Thursday against the Diamondbacks. Pitching depth … hoooooooooooo!!!!
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Today’s Hate List
Andy Martino. For this tweet just before first pitch:
“Imagine what life would be like for the Yankees and Mets if they had engaged in a Noah Syndergaard trade.”
You mean the trade that you pushed for two straight offseasons but was never, ever close to happening? Dillweed.
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