Mets Camp 2015: Best To Avoid Extended Exposure

Today is game #10 of the Mets’ Spring Training schedule. For all the grousing that spring camp is too long, I offer up the fact that we’re already a third of the way through our allotment of silly games that don’t count. And thank goodness they don’t, because Mets fans would become even more suicidal than normal if they did. As of right now – and if things continue apace this afternoon, with the Mets trailing the Nationals 3-2 at this writing – the Mets’ spring record will be a wobbly 3-7.* Not the stuff of which October dreams are made.

If we’re looking for trends at this early juncture, here’s one that jumps right out at us: if you’re a Mets starting pitcher, see if you can exit the game before you have to pitch a second inning. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not calling for anything drastic. Nothing in the mode of, say, Josh Edgin, who could miss a couple of weeks, or might be lost for the year – it’s the Mets, after all. No, nothing that dramatic – maybe a blister for Zack Wheeler or water cramps for Bartolo Colon after one inning of work. So far, second and third innings have been pretty ugly. The exception, of course is Matt Harvey, because he is generally exceptional. Harvey threw two blistering innings a week ago, amid blaring trumpets and fair maidens prostrating themselves at his feet. Jacob deGrom followed suit the next day, his flourishes from a year ago still fresh enough that his outing appeared somehow routine, despite multiple strikeouts and only two hits allowed. Since then, though? Mets starters can be counted on for one good inning, not a single one more than that. Colon, Wheeler, Jon Niese… each looked like a world-beater out of the gate, only to drown in a sea of hits and walks in inning number two. Even Harvey was not immune, though he was able to extend his good pitching into a third inning in his second start before imploding – of course he did, because, well…Matt Harvey. And this phenomenon isn’t confined to starting pitchers, either. There have been countless promising bullpen appearances in these ten games that crumbled when the arms get “stretched out,” in clubhouse parlance.

Of course, it’s still only March 12. All this would be worrisome if it were happening, say, three weeks from now. As it is, it just serves to make a beautiful game tedious. Pitchers’ arms are getting stretched out, deliveries and pitch modes are being tinkered with for optimum effect once the bell rings. That bell is a distant carillon: there’s a ways to go before April 6. These games right now are all for tune-up fun and to get into the habit of tuning in to SNY. Unfortunately, we’re also getting into the habit of turning off SNY before mid-game, seeing as second innings have been painful to watch. No, the Mets aren’t “there” yet. The good news is that neither is anybody else. The whole of MLB is still 0-0, and trying to glean any non-injury portents from these contests is definition of a fool’s errand.

So sit back, take in the grass, the colors, the smells and sounds of the game and try not to take it all so seriously. Just make sure to avert your eyes after the first inning.

*Author’s Note: This was obviously written before the Mets’ scrub hitters put up a nine-spot in the eighth inning vs. the Nationals’ scrub pitchers, leading to a somewhat less wobbly 4-6 record. This should in no way deter from the brilliance of any of the points made above by your intrepid columnist.

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