Game 2 was essentially the same story as Game 1. Good pitching, big offense and laugher by the end. But this was a freezing cold night game, reference Keith Hernandez’s camo gloves and fur coat he was wearing for much of the game. But no wind or cold was going to stand in the way of Matt Harvey making a statement in his first start of his first full major league season. From the first inning, in which he struck two of three batters out you could tell he had it – he went on to strike out 10 in 7 innings. Everth Cabrera singled in the fourth inning, proving to be San Diego’s only offense against Harvey all night. But Matt promptly picked him off first base after throwing over a couple of times. Later that innings he walked Will Venable who was erased on an inning ending double play. Harvey breezed through the rest of the game, with the only minor hiccup being a walk of Carlos Quentin in the seventh inning. Harvey threw 94 pitches in 7 innings, but it seemed like much less; being a perfectionist Harvey was not fully satisfied after the game but was still happy with the win as a whole. This was very important for every fascist of the Mest organization that Harvey looked this good. The plan is finally almost complete and once Wheeler and Harvey are up together (go to MetsHotCorner.com to see my article on Wheeler) we should be in for a show. As a crazy fan, one of the most important things and signs that came from last night was when Gary Cohen referred to Harvey as ‘Matt’ going into a commercial break. In the past the only few players who have consistently referred to as their first names were Pedro, Carlos, Carlos, Jose, David, Johan essentially the major stars. Ike i have also noticed is joining this group along with Murph at times. Keith calls Murphy ‘Daniel’ all the time. But this is just a stupid observation by an excited fan. Harvey was not the only good thing that came from last night’s game – the offense also kept up their good play early on.
It all started in the 2nd inning, when Lucas Duda launched a missile into the Pepsi Porch. I honestly was looking away and before I could find the ball when I looked, it was gone. Two innings later in the 4th, after a Duda double (good night for him) John Buck sent a deep fly ball of the fence in straight away right field – into the net of the Mo’ s Zone. Thats were we stood after four, 4-0 Mets. But the biggest blow, and longest, was still to come. In the fifth, Murphy reached base on a fielders choice. David then ripped a double on the ground down the line – once it got out of the infield i knew it was a run after seeing Carlos Quentin play balls in for a game and a half. David then advanced to third on the bad throw. With Ike coming up, all i wanted was for him to be productive with a sac fly or his first hit of the year to be a solid single to extend the lead further. He did much more than that. He flat out destroyed this ball, sending it beyond the bullpens and near the Shea Bridge, as Gary Cohen dubbed it. “a monumental blast.” I think it reached it honestly. Davis had a good short swing on it, and flipped the bat as he started his trot. David tagged up just for good measure but it was clearly gone the second it hit the bat.
While the bullpen was clearly not great, with Harvey giving up no runs in 7 and ending up winning the game 8-4, but i will save the criticism for when the game is much closer.
Today the Mets go for the sweep of the Opening Series at home for the second year in a row, with Dillon Gee on the mound this afternoon for a get away game. This will be another important start for the Mets to see if Gee has gotten all of his stuff back after suffering from a blood clot last season that ended his year. After a couple good spring starts I think Gee is fine and I am excited to see him develop this year as well. LGM 2-0.
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