Meet Them in Saint Looie - Mets @ Cards IGT - 3/30/26

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

"This guy's got a good fastball--and he's in love with his slider."

[Edgy MD]

I miss Antoan Richardson and how much he made every Mets baserunner look really big when they got to first.

[Edgy MD]

Nolan Gorman is Carson Benge with 30 more pounds.

[Centerfield]

Semien looks shot. 

[Frayed Knot]

This seems like one of those: we should be up by more than just 2 kind of games

[Edgy MD]

Benge has lost his wispy mustache since Opening Day.

[Edgy MD]

Devin Williams looking for his first Mets save.

[Edgy MD]

So ... Williams generates popups?

[Gwreck]

Can’t sweep if you don’t win the first one.

(and this is absolutely a series the Mets should sweep)

[Centerfield]

Like FK said, it felt like the Mets should have been leading by a lot more. At the same time, it never felt like STL was going to come back. 
 

Good win!

[Fman99]

Watched it all though not from a position where I could comment here, as my Grateful Dead cover bandmate Bob and I play guitars and sing Dead songs on Mondays most weeks.  

I definitely noticed the picture/sound being out of sync in the first inning.

I also didn't initially care for the JY start over Vientos but I suppose this is why I'm not in charge of things there.  Among other reasons.

[Lefty Specialist]

8 hours ago, Edgy MD said:

Benge has lost his wispy mustache since Opening Day.

Yeah, I had a mustache like that when I was 23, to try to look older. Ah, the good old days.

 

I shaved it off after a few weeks and nobody noticed.  Then again I wasn't playing outfield for the Mets.

[Frayed Knot]

btw, this was obviously a Central time zone game but, due to speed-up rules and earlier start times being adopted by some clubs, this game ended (10:17 EDT) right around where an Eastern TZ game typically did prior to the new rules [a 7:10 start when the average game peaked at right around 3:07]. Or, if it were an 8:15 first pitch as StL games were a few seasons back, then this one runs to near 11:30 NYC time where I'm guessing I'm not the only one who opted to cash in my chips before the late innings.

 

And to think, it only took MLB a couple of decades to realize that these (ever worsening) conditions were affecting the popularity and access to their games.

[Gwreck]

4 hours ago, Frayed Knot said:

And to think, it only took MLB a couple of decades to realize that these (ever worsening) conditions were affecting the popularity and access to their games.

You are mixing two distinct issues there:  pace of game (popular change) and earlier game times (club-dependent and not a universally popular change).

Of course the pitch clock has been well-documented as an overwhelmingly positive change.

Earlier game times, on the other hand, are not so popular and, more significantly, do not appear to move the needle on viewership.  Indeed, the teams that have 7:00 PM local game times on weeknights are all in the very biggest markets:  Mets, Yankees, Dodgers, Blue Jays, Astros, Rangers, Braves — these teams are all in located in the 10 largest metropolitan areas in North America.

Rather, game times appear mostly to be set based on attendance concerns.  Examples: the Red Sox and the Cubs start weeknight games earlier in April and September, and at normal times in the warmer months.  And of course lots of clubs have earlier starts on M-Th nights but not Friday.  
 

[Frayed Knot]

I'm not mixing the issues up, merely saying that the combo of the two made a CDT game end at the same time when a typical EDT game used to end. The closing comments about MLB failing act as the issue got worse and worse were aimed at the pace of play part of the equation