Mets Memo- 4/4

A crowd of 44,384 flocked to Queens on a beautiful Opening Day. The weather was fantastic (especially for early April) and the Mets won, but their fans endured just as much bad news as good news on Opening Day 2017.

The good news is, the Mets took care of business against the Braves on Opening Day, winning 6-0 behind six strong innings from Noah Syndergaard.

But, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for the Mets on Monday.

First off, the 6-0 score line is a misnomer; the Mets struggled against Atlanta’s Julio Teheran, tagging him for only three hits, and have the implosion of the Atlanta bullpen (specifically Eric Krol and Eric O’Flaherty) to thank for all six runs.

In other not-so-great news, Noah Syndergaard’s second start will be pushed from Saturday to Sunday after leaving Monday’s game with a blister on his middle finger. He and manager Terry Collins insist the injury is no big deal, but coming off of last season where the Mets were absolutely paralyzed by the injury bug, Mets fans and reporters alike deserve to be worried.

Speaking of Injuries, the Mets say Seth Lugo has a partially torn UCL in his elbow, but it will not require surgery. He received a platelet-rich injection and will be shut down for the next few weeks. He joins lefty Steven Matz on the Mets injury list, and the Mets are down to 5 (somewhat) healthy starters.

So much for pitching depth.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to be pessimistic here. Syndergaard was fantastic on the mound, his fastball as fast as ever and his off-speed pitches as nasty as they’ve ever been. And don’t forget Lucas Duda, who finally returned from injury to the tune of a bases-clearing double in the seventh. And Asdrubal Cabrera was 3 for 5 with an RBI, the first of the Amazins’ season.

All I’m saying is that an Opening Day win is definitely very good news.  But, as is all too common with the Mets, every step forward comes with just as many, if not more, steps backwards. Let’s hope that the rest of this season bucks this trend.