IGT 04/11 - Padres at Mets - Spring Has Sprung

[Edgy MD]

That felt like a 450-foot popup.

[Frayed Knot]

That HR suxx but you also get the feeling they weren't scoring a second run unless this game went at least 16 innings.

[Edgy MD]

Takin' pitches leads to riches.

[Edgy MD]

Here's to a nice, dragged-out pre-2023-vintage ninth inning.

[Edgy MD]

This review may be Buck trying to ice the kicker.

[Edgy MD]

Kicker successfully iced.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Hmmmm

[Edgy MD]

I'm Pheeling more Phammy.



This makes the Bogaerts homer the difference.



Too bad Nido is our only available alternative hitter, but a double-steal attempt keeps the Mets alive.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Dammit

[Edgy MD]

Álvarez spent most of the day chasing the slider away and spent that trip chasing the heater upstairs.



He's got to calm down and make a pitcher come after him.

[metirish]

Álvarez looks overmatched, I'm feeling for him

[batmagadanleadoff]

Oh my god! The Mets won 101 games last season. How then, could they lose a game to the Padres?

[ashie62]

Mediocrity abounds.



Verlander will be in St Lucie when the Mets head west



I'm getting a 1987 Mets vibe now



They should bring one of the kids up. Nido is light years ahead of Alvarez for now so they can split time I guess

[Edgy MD]

I'm not getting a 1987 vibe. For one, Max Scherzer didn't get fail a cocaine test during spring training.



While I certainly don't agree that Nido is light years ahead of Álvarez (or anybody), I'm not sure why that would be an argument for them splitting time.



Álvarez doesn't look over-matched to me, just over-anxious.



What do you think about pinch-hitting Nido there? I'm not sure I make that choice. You gain the righty-on-lefty advantage there, but you're giving up a lot also. Guillorme can try the bunt again if they play him back. If they play the corners up, that's a small advantage there. He also has the better eye against a pitcher who'd been leaving the ball up, he has the better capacity to work deep into the count against a pitcher who was already over-extended, and he gives you that sweet same-side platoon advantage of being more likely to get hit. Probably harder to double up, batting from the left, also.

[Lefty Specialist]

Yeah, it's pretty obvious Alvarez is pressing. But nobody else is hitting either which kind of magnifies things.



I don't think Nido is light-years ahead of anybody. He kinda sucks as a hitter. Alvarez should be getting hore playing time than him, or send him back to Syracuse and bring up Perez so he can play every day down there.

[ashie62]

I meant Nido is light years ahead on the defensive side, not with the bat



Maybe not light-years but enough to earn the majority of the starts.



If the Mets were not a team where October is expected then sure, Alvarez plays everyday



The Mets "could" make an early in the season commitment to youth and let Alvarez play almost everyday and promote Baty to do the same at third



High risk? Yes, however the potential reward of two uber talented youngsters clicking over the summer could help to put the Mets over the top.

[Benjamin Grimm]

http://potg.leaptoad.com/mets/images/schaefer10.jpg>



http://potg.leaptoad.com/mets/index.phpCast your vote!

[Edgy MD]

There's plenty of opportunity to break in young talent and compete at the same time. It's totally been done. It just didn't pay off last night.



And if the alternative at catcher was Michael Perez, there's not a whole lot of reason to think that would have paid off higher.



If the Mets fail this season, it likely won't be because Francisco Álvarez batted ninth on April 11.