Last night’s outing was a frustrating one for Mets’ phenom Noah Syndergaard. While he appeared to have outstanding stuff, the Giants were able to scratch out four runs and ten hits against him.
After the game, Syndergaard told reporters that bad luck was responsible for his disappointing outing.
“I felt I had some of the best stuff I’ve had in my entire life,” Syndergaard said about last night’s game. “I just didn’t get the results I wanted. … They just happened to make contact. They had some hard hit balls. I was able to get some ground balls, but they hit them where our infielders weren’t.”
Syndergaard also cited luck as a factor in his previous outing against the Padres, but he doesn’t need to be making excuses.
Yes, the Giants dinked, doinked and dunked him all night, hitting them where they ain’t. But the home plate ump was giving him (and obviously Chris Heston) a very liberal strike zone and they were making too much contact against him, something Keith Hernandez raised during the broadcast.
Syndergaard clearly has the talent to be a dominant pitcher, so I wonder if all he needs to do is make a small adjustment now that more MLB hitters are more aware of his strengths and weaknesses and the book is out on him as Nelson Figueroa pointed out last night.
With his last two starts, Syndergaard’s ERA has climbed from 1.82 to 4.15. His WHIP stands at 1.35, but his excellent 5.67 strikeout to walk rate remains a positive sign. He has a total of 34 strikeouts in 34.2 innings while only walking six.
