Wheeler’s Play

If anybody needed a dominant outing, it’s Zack Wheeler. In a starting rotation of guys that have constantly come up with gems (gems ruined by the bullpen, but gems nonetheless), it’s been Wheeler who always seems to be left out of the party with his high pitch counts and his high WHIP. Weird, as Wheeler is the guy many saw as one who would potentially lead this group. Instead, he’s been vexed.

But he turned it around in Philadelphia on Thursday to lead off the five game series with the Phillies. Six and a third innings, four hits, nine strikeouts (including the first six outs), and zero walks. His pitch count was still a little high, but 108 into the seventh inning isn’t bad at all. But most importantly the Mets’ lineup hit enough to preserve the W for Wheeler as new hitting coach Lamar Johnson has either provided new and interesting theories on hitting that have clicked with Chris Young, who hit a two run HR to provide the margin of victory … or has become some sort of good luck charm whether he likes it or not. Either way, the Mets won in the land of cheesesteaks by a score of 4-1. Including Thursday, the Mets play 25 out of 33 on the road, so expect this team to hit a ton without having to deal with the evil scourge known as Mets fans and their booing.

Five days in Philadelphia can be dangerous, especially after it came to light during Wednesday’s broadcast that the visiting clubhouse keeps track of how many cheesesteaks a team eats in a day … with the Braves holding the record with 103. If Bartolo Colon likes cheesesteaks, the Mets may have to roll him to the mound on Monday. Although wiht the Phillies not hitting at all lately, they could roll Bartolo to the plate and they would still swing and miss.

(I may have just gotten banned from two clubhouses in one paragraph.)

Also, the Mets signed away a key Kansas City Royals cog to help out. No, not Alex Gordon, but Wes Engram, who goes into a newly created job of Vice President of Corporate Sales and Service. He along with Harold Kaufman, who was named the Executive Director of Communications, will form the dream team of suits. Interesting that these two were hired one right after the other. I wonder what their strategy with reaching out to the fans and to the community will be.

Though they might be here to advise Fred Wilpon on what stupid thing to say to get a two billion dollar check from some sucker after he gets kicked out of baseball.