ST IGT 03/08 - Mets at Nationals

[Guest d'Kong76]

Brandon Nimmo, CF
Jay Bruce, RF
Yoenis Cespedes, DH
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Asdrubal Cabrera, 2B
Kevin Plawecki, C
Luis Guillorme, SS
David Thompson, 3B J
Ty Kelly, LF

Brian Goodwin, CF
Trea Turner, SS
Bryce Harper, RF
Anthony Rendon, 3B
Matt Adams, DH
Howie Kendrick, 2B
Miguel Montero, C
ose Marmolejos, 1B
Moises Sierra, LF

[Edgy MD]

Syndergaard on the mound looking to go four or maybe five, with some combination of Jerry Blevins, Kyle Regnault, Jeurys Familia, AJ Ramos, Gerson Bautista, and Andrew Gagnon to follow.

Benchies include Matt den Dekker, Zach Borenstein, Jeff McNeil, Andres Gimenez (top prospect who looked overwhelmed in his one inning on defense thus far), Patrick Biondi, Gavin Cecchini, Peter Alonso, Tomas Nido, Matt Oberste, Jeff Glenn, Luis Carpio, and Ian Strom.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Yo and Bruce flip-flopped today. Nice to see Guillorme and Thompson getting more looks.

And Adrian Gonzalez is going to lead the Grapefruit league in ABs. The Mets are gonna get their $500K worth in March alone to see if this guy has anything left. I don't think anyone but Dom Smith is too upset that Dom Smith isn't out there every day.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Looks like no TV or radio today or tomorrow. I will be watching Adrian Gonzalez's animated GameDay avatar closely to see if he looks old and sucky or not.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Meanwhile in Florida... young David Thompson singled, stole second and scored on a Nimmo double off Strasburg. Noah has walked 2, but struck out 3 in 2 scoreless. 1-nil Mets going to the bottom of the third.

For those keeping score at home, Thompson now hitting a cool .389 this spring.

[Edgy MD]

He's looking like a lock to get that Oustanding Rookie in Camp thingie.

Nimmo, meanwhile, is 2-3 with a double and a triple. I hope we can agree that he has 2/3 of the centerfield job and 2/3 of the leadoff job locked down from opening day until further notice.

[MFS62]

4-3 Nats.
Familia gave up all four.
Still half a game to pull this one out.

Later

[Benjamin Grimm]

Is Nimmo playing well enough that, perhaps, the Mets drop Gonzalez and push Jay Bruce to first base? Maybe not right away, but when Conforto returns?

[Edgy MD]

MFS62 wrote: 4-3 Nats. Familia gave up all four. Still half a game to pull this one out. Later

Two homers in that Familia eruption.

Mets get one back against Bryan Harper, Bryce Harper's brother and a feel-good story that we just HAVE to rob from them.

[Edgy MD]

Bullpen blue.

[MFS62]

Edgy MD wrote: Bullpen blue.

chunks.

Later

[A Boy Named Seo]

Rare to find a pair of MLB siblings where one hits and one pitches, no? Pedro/Ramon, Al/Mark Leiter, Phil/Joe Niekro, Greg/Mike Maddux, Pascual and Melido Perez... Travis/Chase d'Arnaud, Roberto/Sandy Alomar, Tony/Chris Gwynn, Jose/Ozzie Canseco...

Oh goddamn Mike Glavine.

[Benjamin Grimm]

George and Ken Brett.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: George and Ken Brett.

Good call. Ken prob made it to the majors cause he had to be good enough to get George out once in a while when they were kids.

[Edgy MD]

Also Tyler (outfielder) and Erik (pitcher) Goeddel, the suspiciously big-league sons of the inventor of HGH.

[Frayed Knot]

Ken was a good hitter too.
.262 career BA, 29 of his 91 career hits went for extra bases: 18 2Bs, 1 3B, 10 HR


Also Wes (P) and Rick © Ferrell
And Wes could hit too, holds the career record for HRs as a pitcher (37 - plus 1 as a PH)

[Edgy MD]

Wes might have been a better hitter than Rick, and Rick was no slouch.

I feel like it's often an accident of history which way a guy goes. For any number of amateur ballplayers across the country who are the two-way stars of their team, a scout with a lot of juice pronounces which track the guy is to go on, and that's the way he commits his life. It would be cool to find an organization or two that forsakes that kind of thinking and lets a guy spend his first two years in the minors doing both. More than likely, most times, either the player or the organization will find he's advancing more as one than the other, and he'll voluntarily put the weaker part of his game away.

But for two or three golden geese every generation, they would excel at both and crack the majors as a two-way player.

Some other brothers I just remembered who played on opposite sides of the ball:
[list:2l9ayruv][*:2l9ayruv]Tug (p) and Hank © McGraw;[/*:m:2l9ayruv]
[*:2l9ayruv]Cloyd (p), Clete (3b), and Ken (3b) Boyer;[/*:m:2l9ayruv]
[*:2l9ayruv]Skip (p) Lockwood and his dead-ringer lookalike brother Claude (3b).[/*:m:2l9ayruv][/list:u:2l9ayruv]

[Frayed Knot]

So, other than the bad bullpen and stuff, there was this nice little sequence from the 2nd thru 4th innings:

- Jose Marmolejos: Strikes out swinging
- Moises Sierra: Strikes out swinging
- Brian Goodwin: Strikes out swinging

- Trea Turner: Strikes out swinging
- Bryce Harper: Strikes out swinging
- Anthony Rendon: Strikes out swinging

- Matt Adams: Strikes out swinging

Those were the final seven hitters Syndergaard faced for the afternoon.

[Edgy MD]

You definitely want to sit that guy down the third time through the lineup.

[MFS62]

Edgy MD wrote: [*]Skip (p) Lockwood and his dead-ringer lookalike brother Claude (3b).[/list]

Nice try.
Thought you could slip that one by us, eh, when you put him in a separate category from two way players?

Later

[Edgy MD]

I just like typing the name "Claude."

Sam Bankhead was a Negro League star as an infielder and outfielder, while brother Dan was an MLB pitcher in the early integration era. There were a few other brothers in there also.

Mel Rojas pitched while his cousin Moisés played outfield like his father and uncles.

Amazingly, there were also four more Boyers who played in the minors.

Two brothers who are nephews of Vladdy Guerrero—pitcher José Guerrero and shortstop Gregory Guerrero—are both current Met prospects, but I think they might have released José.