ST IGT 03/13 #2 - BetaMets @ WAS

[Edgy MD]

Not content with their A-team getting embarassed at home, Mets put the B-unit on a bus to face the Nats and Max Scherzer. Already down 3-0 after one.

Nats so confident that they're letting their pitcher bat while the Mets use the DH.

1. Juan Lagares (R), cf
2. Amed Rosario (R), ss
3. Asdrubal Cabrera (S), 2b
4. Todd Frazier (R), 3b
5. Wilmer Flores (R), 1b
6. Kevin Plawecki (R),c
7. Matthew den Dekker (L), lf
8. Kevin Kaczmarski (L), rf
9. Patrick Mazeika (L), dh
   
   Zack Wheeler (R)

1. Wilmer Difo (S), 2b
2. Trea Turner (R), ss
3. Bryce Harper (L), rf
4. Anthony Rendon (R), 3b
5. Brian Goodwin (L), lf
6. Matt Wieters (S), c
7. Victor Robles (R), cf
8. José Marmolejos (L), 1b
9. Max Scherzer (R), sp
   
   Max Scherzer (R), sp

[fimg=250]http://www.stickpng.com/assets/images/584d431b0a44bd1070d5d428.png[/fimg]	[fimg=250]https://s3.amazonaws.com/freebiesupply/large/2x/washington-nationals-logo-transparent.png[/fimg]

[A Boy Named Seo]

Radio guys say Wheeler was buzzin 98/99 but just the same, the wheels came off this one pretty quickly. 5-nil Nats.

I'm goin for a drink. LG(B)M

[Edgy MD]

These announcers are all "Max this" and "Max that" and "When we signed Max."

Bleh.

[Centerfield]

I know it’s spring training but is anyone else concerned that we like never win?

[Guest d'Kong76]

Who can think about W-L's when we have a MASN Max-fest going?

[Benjamin Grimm]

Centerfield wrote: I know it’s spring training but is anyone else concerned that we like never win?

Well, the 1986 Mets were 9-18 in spring training.

[Frayed Knot]

Edgy MD wrote: These announcers are all "Max this" and "Max that" and "When we signed Max." Bleh.

The Nats' MASN team is really very high-school-ish in their approach.

It was a bit understandable in the early days of the team's arrival in Washington. The town had been minus baseball for 30+ years so it was somewhat dependent on the TV crew to be the main conduit not just to sell the nascent and cellar-dwelling Nats [5th, 5th, 4th, 5th, & 5th in their initial five seasons] to baseball fans but they also had to, in effect, re-sell the sport of baseball to a city that went without it for 1/3 of a century and where the arrival of spring was marked by the Washington Post sports section cutting back to only 85% Redskins coverage.
But seeing as how this will be their 14th season in D.C., with the last six in a row marked with a fair amount of success (even though still short a playoff advancement), the rah-rah stuff sounds small town and hokey and tends to confirm the rep of Washington as being a small southern town at heart with an inferiority complex towards their larger northern neighbors (Philly, NYC, Boston).

[Guest Mets Willets Point]

It’s only Spring Training, but the Mets are in -mid-season form against the Nats.

[bmfc1]

Frayed Knot wrote: These announcers are all "Max this" and "Max that" and "When we signed Max." Bleh. The Nats' MASN team is really very high-school-ish in their approach.

Trivia: in the Nationals first season, their color announcer was Ron Darling.

[Frayed Knot]

As I recall, the story behind that one was that Ronnie was hired last minute -- almost literally -- and therefore went in, by his own admission even, totally unprepared. And it showed.
I heard him a couple times that one year and remember thinking he was a stiff. When the Mets hired him later on I saw it as the typical unimaginative move of hiring a guy based on nothing other than his '86 credentials.
Fortunately, as we've heard on the local broadcasts and as he's moved quickly up the network ladder (he wasn't a big enough name when he played to get work on his name only) he grew into the role rapidly and no
longer even resembles that first-year guy.

[bmfc1]

Right. Ron has said that he didn't meet play-by-play announcer Mel Proctor until the day of the 1st game in the taxi on the way to the game.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Proctor

[G-Fafif]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Centerfield wrote: I know it’s spring training but is anyone else concerned that we like never win? Well, the 1986 Mets were 9-18 in spring training.

The 1986 Mets went 13-13 before they went 108-54. The only 9-18 Spring Mets were the 1968 Mets, who went out and achieved the franchise's best season to date. Perhaps Mickey Callaway is following Gil Hodges's lead, getting to know his personnel and sacrificing victories for knowledge...or something like that.

The 1962 Mets went 12-15 before they went 40-120. They also went 12-19 to start the season. They'd have been simply not very good had they played shorter schedules.

The Grapefruit League records are at once meaningless and at least a little indicative of something when it's the only indicator ya got.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I must have misread this page, but I'm not sure how.

How about this then: The 1986 Houston Astros (who also went on to have a pretty good season) were 9-18 in spring training.

[G-Fafif]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: The 1986 Houston Astros (who also went on to have a pretty good season) were 9-18 in spring training.

That settles it -- Spring Training records are worthless.

[Centerfield]

Yeah. I mean, I do tend to agree that spring training records are worthless. Especially if the losses pile up in close games where leads are lost by a bunch of guys that will never see Flushing. What's more disturbing, I guess is that our starting pitching seems to like giving up 5 runs.

And our offense, really outside of a few standouts, have not produced at all.

That's not a great way to win.