Game recap April 3: Together we’ll ring in the new year

WHO WON:

The Mets, and anyone who watched this pitcher’s duel

WHAT HAPPENED, NOAH SYNDERGAARD IS REALLY GOOD AT BASEBALL:

It has been a while since we’ve seen Noah Syndergaard pitch in a regular season game but, in case you forgot, he is good. Well, he’s better than good. He was dominant. He struck out seven hitters in six innings, walking none. He held the Braves off of the scoreboard, and really gave Atlanta hitters fits all day long. He worked ahead in counts, and the Braves were only able to sneak five base hits off him—just one for extra bases (a ball hit by Freddie Freeman to right that gave Jay Bruce fits). He spent six innings dueling Julio Teheran, resulting in quite the pitcher’s duel from vastly different pitchers.

Syndergaard was what we have come to expect him to be: a guy with an upper-90s sinker and an absolutely filthy slider. He garnered 13 whiffs overall—four a piece on his sinker and slider, five on his changeup. Oh yeah, about that changeup:

Pretty 2-1 Changeup at 90mph from Noah Syndergaard to Nick Markakis. pic.twitter.com/LNdkBlXk6P

— Pitcher List (@ThePitcherList) April 3, 2017

That, folks, is about the most beautiful pitch you’ll see, which is added to a repertoire already containing some of the most beautiful pitches you’ll see. He threw the pitch to both righties and lefties, commanding it well and Freddie Freeman was the only one to figure it out. If this pitch is used as well as we saw Syndergaard use it yesterday, it’s a mystery as to how a lefty will hit Thor. He now offers two pitches with crazy arm side run, thrown from a nearly identical arm slot and tunnel. The only difference is about 10 mph—100 mph to 90 mph. Combine that with his slider he isn’t afraid to front-door lefties with, and one of the game’s best pitchers has gotten even better.

Here’s the bad news—he left after the 6th with a blister on his middle finger. Blisters aren’t the easiest thing for a pitcher to deal with, and you’d have to think the force Syndergaard puts behind each pitch will cause this to linger even longer than a normal blister would. Hopefully, though, the man with blistering heat won’t be brought down by this newly-surfaced blister.

Hansel Robles turned in a 1-2-3 7th, Fernando Salas struck out two in a clean 8th inning of work, and Robert Gsellman came in wrap up the game in the 9th inning. Gsellman, a bit of a surprise to work the final frame, was the only reliever to deal with any trouble—surrendering a leadoff double to Freeman (who was 3-4 on the day) followed by a double by Matt Kemp. Gsellman settled down after that, striking out Nick Markakis and getting Brandon Phillips to ground into a game-ending (and a bit unconventional) 1-3-6 double play as they caught Kemp on a wide round of second base.

WHAT HAPPENED, WALK WALK WALKING ON HEAVENS DOOR:

It was a real quiet day at the plate for the Mets: other than the bottom of the 7th, the Mets were held off the board every time they came to the plate. About that 7th, though. Wilmer Flores scored the first run of the season on a call that was overturned via replay at home plate, and came in large part because Braves’ catcher Tyler Flowers was positioned behind the plate instead of in front. From there, it really went south for Atlanta.

The Mets worked Braves relievers for four more walks—one coming with the bases loaded. In general, the Mets must have been seeing the ball well. Jay Bruce highlighted an afternoon in which the Mets worked eight walks, and their ability to work counts was a crucial reason as to how they bounced Julio Teheran after six strong innings. Asdrubal Cabrera had a strong 3-for-5 day at the plate, and Lucas Duda recorded the only extra base hit—a double into left-center to clear the bases in the 7th which put the nail in the coffin on opening day.

WHAT HAPPENED, YESTERDAY:

Noah Syndergaard was really the two-fold story of this one. On one hand, he looked as dominant as ever. On (quite literally) the same hand, Syndergaard now must deal with an injury that doesn’t just disappear overnight. Hopefully it’ll go away soon, but we all know how blisters on a pitching hand can linger. That’ll be something to watch as we kick off the 2017 season. It’s good to see the Mets will on the side of caution, though, as he’ll be pushed back to Sunday, switching places with Gsellman, who will now start Saturday. At the plate, the Mets looked patient. That is a great sign going forward, especially in this series against the Braves, as working into their bullpen early will be a boon. It was a strong opening day for the Mets, who are now on pace to lose zero games and are tied for first with the Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals.

WHAT HAPPENED, NEWS OF THE DAY:

Some more news of the day, Seth Lugo will be receiving a second opinion on his elbow. Mike Puma reports that he will miss significant time, as “something may have popped up on his MRI.” Puma also reports that no announcement will be made until Wednesday, so we have that to look forward to mid-week. Steven Matz is now officially on the DL to start the season, as Marc Carig reports that he has been diagnosed with a flexor tendon strain. Carig also added that the inflammation isn’t significant.

WHAT HAPPENS, TODAY:

The Mets have today off, but they’ll be back in action on Wednesday as Jacob deGrom squares off against Bartolo Colon, who will be making his first appearance at Citi field since signing with the Braves this offseason.

Photo credit: Brad Penner – USA Today Sports