Jeurys Familia and Jim Henderson were lights out coming out of the bullpen during the Mets 2-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday. The bullpen showed glimpses of the force it can truly be when all is going well.
Familia locked down his first save of the season with a perfect inning that started with a strikeout of Lorenzo Cain, and then inducing two ground outs from Eric Hosmer and Kendrys Morales respectively. The ghosts of the World Series past had no effect on the light’s out closer, as Familia put his troubles against Kansas City in the past.
“I know it’s baseball. Everything happens for a reason,” Familia said. “We lost last year in the World Series, but we’re still hungry. We’re still hungry to get there again and try to win the whole thing.” (ESPN)
Manager, Terry Collins was quite excited with what he saw from his big closer. He knew this was a big step for Familia to take to show his dominance yet again over the league.
“I think it’s good for him, certainly with their left-handed lineup,” Collins said. “Lefties at times can give him trouble. … He’s a real, real good pitcher. And I think today is probably a big step forward.”
Possibly the even bigger story out of the bullpen on the day was Henderson, who had not appeared in the majors since May 1, 2014 with the Milwaukee Brewers.
That August he underwent the second shoulder surgery of his career which led to almost two years of recovery to get him back to this very spot. He made the most of his Mets debut, pitching a perfect inning of his own which included strikeouts of Alex Gordon and Omar Infante.
“That was exciting,” Henderson said. “I didn’t really have the butterflies like I did in [my] debut and stuff, like I thought I might have. I probably was more nervous in spring training than I was today. I just felt under control in the bullpen the whole time, and then I just took that out to the game and was as aggressive as I could be out there.” (ESPN)
Henderson’s fastball averaged 96.7 MPH on the day and he had no problem blowing it by the Royals he faced. His velocity never reached those heights in spring training, sitting mainly around 95 MPH. He kept a little extra in the tank for when it counted most.
“You can’t do that in spring training. You don’t have 40,000 people there,” Henderson said. “To be honest, it was kind of effortless today. I was probably putting more effort into pitches in spring training than I was today.”
Terry Collins knows if all goes well it is possible that Henderson can get back to form and to the level he once was as closer of the Brewers. He is sure to be a big part of this bullpen, if he remains healthy.
“It’s a great story. He came in today and threw very good,” Collins said. “I’m really impressed how he handled spring training. We’ll try to make sure we get him some rest during the season and not try to overuse him.”
A backend of the bullpen with a healthy Jim Henderson, Antonio Bastardo, Addison Reed, Jeurys Familia as well as a more seasoned Hansel Robles could be quite a force to be reckoned with. It will be interesting to see just how dominant this bullpen can be as the season progresses.
