If the Mets had played these first five games half as sloppy as I've built the threads to follow them with, well, shit, we might be looking up from the bottom of a big hole.
Not exactly the front benchers in there for Dillon. Desmond, ssLombardozzi, 2bZimmerman, 3bLaRoche, 1bWerth, rfNady, lfBernadina, cfRamos, cDetwiler, spTejada, ssMurphy, 2bWright, 3bBay, lfDuda, rfTurner, 1bHairston, cfNickeas, cGee, sp
The reason you tell people about it is to provide protection from backlash if he does get hurt. But how's this for a talking point? We care very much about Stephen's future, and we're monitoring the health of his arm closely. We have a comprehensive plan, and we're all on the same page with regards to that plan. We'd rather not go into further details except to say that we're humble enough to know that calamity strikes even under the greatest plan. And what is there to do but to take what you've learned from that calamity and incorporate it into the next plan? It's all you can do. Learn and build. But Nationals fans need to know: for every hour they spend worrying about the health of their favorite players, we spend ten. It's part of our commission, as winning is part of our commission, and we're deadly serious about it.
Buffs up 2-0 in the first over Rochester after a Val Pasucucci homer. Matt Harvey trying to give it back with Red Wing runners on the corners with one out. Pascucci is now tied for 11th all-time in Buffalo homers.
Buffalo's leftfielder is non-homeboy Vinnie Rottino. Homies playing outfield at AAA right now are Jordany Valdespin and Raul Reyes, neither one really projecting as a big-league starter out there, but who knows? Probably your best hope for the all-farmboy team are in seeing den Dekker in center and Nieuwenhuis in left. Or maybe Duda in left and Nieuwie in right.
I knew the offense would come for Thole, but a good start is certainly important for the ol' cahnfidence. What I am pleasantly surprised by is his improved performance on balls in the dirt. It's really kind of interesting that, with Dickey in his third season with the team, they still haven't tried to recruit a knuckleball-catching specialist, or even bring in Doug Mirabelli or Bruce Benedict of someone to tutor folks. Josh is going to get that headache every fifth day and that's that. Baptism by fire. Batista by fire, too.
Back when Tim was Tim. He also would do a great job telling me why, while former-shorstop Ron Darling was a fine fielder, it was Roger McDowell whose defense was the true asset to the team.
Back-end-of-the-rotation action happening as the Mets' Dillon Gee matches up against Ross Detwiler of the Nats. Expect Ike Davis to remain seated as Terry Collins unveils his plan to pace his firstbaseman with respect to that Valley Fever thing. Carlos Beltran was sitting one game in three at the start of last season and it was enough to drive you crazy, but things worked out nicely Beltran-wise, so I'm going to give Terry the benefit of the doubt on this one. Even if he is starting Justin Turner* in his place. *That's about two and half bills worth of OpS!