Good morning, Mets fans!
Another nice win last night. A stress-free win, for once. The only blemish on our victory was Jenrry Mejia having to leave early with a torn blister, but considering Mejia’s luck with injuries, I’ll settle for a torn blister any day of the week with that guy. Anyway, my post this morning is going to be about the awesomeness of Gonzalez Germen.
Now, let me start by saying that if, before the season, you had told me I’d be writing a positive, serious (or mostly serious) article about Gonzalez Germen, I would have laughed in your face.
Germen was totally going to be my scapegoat when it came to our terrifying (for us, not our opponents) bullpen. He would be called up early in the year, he would be the worst pitcher on the staff, and I would basically dub him the Face Of The Mets’ Bullpen Struggles (assuming he could beat out Eric Sogard in the fan vote). Basically, Germen was going to be our 2014 version of Ollie Perez (who looked good last night for Arizona, by the way).
Sure enough, Germen was called upon for some late innings work in the second game of the season after Bobby Parnell blew out his elbow on Opening Day. And sure enough, Germen gave up doubles to the first two batters he saw, leading to a Washington run. I started laughing– you know, like one of those sad, “I was right but I was also pessimistic so it sucks that I’m right” laughs…
But Germen hasn’t given up a run since that game. In fact, until he gave up a hit in this third inning of work last night, Germen hadn’t given up a single hit since the second of those two doubles. In that time, Germen has struck out 10 hitters. His 2014 ERA is 0.89 and his WHIP is 0.48. The season is young, and those numbers obviously cannot be sustained, but Gonzalez Germen has been absolutely ridiculous this season. He has been lights out.
Kyle Farnsworth and Carlos Torres have also been fantastic and Jose Valverde as well, his meltdown against the Angels this weekend notwithstanding. Our bullpen won’t be this amazing all season, but early on in the year it looks like the bullpen— which was supposed to be one of our biggest weaknesses— should be decent and has the potential to possibly even be a strength.
I may have been wrong about you, Gonzalez Germen. Please accept today’s Morning Grind as a token of my most sincere apologies, and keep up the absolutely mind-boggling work.
In the event that you are a Mets fan reading a blog, and not Mets reliever Gonzalez Germen, have a great day, and let’s hope our guys can finish off a sweep tonight!
