There comes a time in every player’s path from prospect to star when he faces a watershed test he must pass, which is what happened to Mets pitcher Steven Matz Wednesday afternoon in Washington. Hopefully, it will be something Matz will wistfully recall down the road, perhaps before any All-Star and playoff games. Pitching coach Dan Warthen immediately recognized it and told manager Terry...
Read More
Like a shark senses blood in the water, a team will jump all over a pitcher when it detects a weakness, especially when it’s somebody such as the Mets’ Noah Syndergaard, who doesn’t have many. The book on Syndergaard is you can run on him. No, make that you can run all over him – that is, if you can get on base. Runners have been successful in all ten of their stolen base attempts against...
Read More
Less than 24 hours after calling the baseball season a marathon, Mets managerTerry Collins decided to run for mayor of Panic City. Moments after his sluggish Mets beat Miami, 2-1, to snap a four-game losing streak, Collins went off in a press conference, calling the victory “a game we had to have.” When the season is less than ten games old, there’s no such thing as a “must win” game. How can...
Read More
Depth was to be a Mets’ strong point this year, and it will come into play a lot earlier than anticipated with shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera expected to miss at least two weeks or more and quite possibly the start of the season with a strained patella tendon in his left knee. Ruben Tejada, who lost his job after Cabrera was acquired and recently has been the subject of trade rumors to St. Louis, is...
Read More
It was just the first start of the Spring for Mets right-hander Noah Syndergaard, but you can’t help but wonder what his upside could be. Could it be higher than that of Matt Harvey or Jacob deGrom? Syndergaard gave us a glimpse last year, but every time he takes the mound he has us wanting more. “There’s always a debate about who’s going to be the best,” Mets manager Terry Collins told...
Read More
