Pit Stop

This game had to be made up at some point, since MLB isn't really fond of letting teams punt games entirely, even if it holds no bearing on any sort of playoff berth. And I guess Minneapolis is sort of halfway between San Diego and New York, if you're going by way of Pickle Lake, so why not drop in and play a Baseball game? It ain't no thang.

Man, I'm this snarky after the Mets won? Imagine if they'd lost.

Fortunately, they didn't lose, and so the road trip from April that saw 2 games snowed out, a 3rd game frozen out and 5 of 7 games played in conditions bordering on the inhumane is now finally complete, with the Mets having made two of these little "side trips" and coming away with two wins.

Monday, the Mets essentially had a brief layover in Minneapolis, arriving in town late Sunday night to play a Monday afternoon game that was, for them, quick. So quick, in fact, that if you blinked, you probably forgot they even had a game today. I didn't, although I was engrossed enough at work that I actually missed the beginning of the game. I've made mention at times that I will often keep WFAN streaming on my computer at work, but if there's a game on, I have to switch to a portable radio because for whatever reason, MLB blacks out the internet stream of live games. But they're not consistent with it. And sometimes, if I'm not paying attention, I'll all of a sudden start listening again and wonder why I've got a replay of Boomer and Carton on. This is what happened today, so by time I tuned in, the Mets were already up 2-0 and Dillon Gee was cruising right along.

Gee, who's been a large part of the Mets resurgence, came through with another fine start on the heels of several other fine starts he's had, and it's gotten to the point that people are actually starting to recognize Dillon Gee as a good pitcher in his own right, and as pivotal a part of the Mets rotation going forward as anybody they've got in the system. Sure, he doesn't have the general panache of Matt Harvey or Zack Wheeler, or really any other pitcher in the rotation right now (Not including Carlos Torres, since he really doesn't count in deference to Jenrry Mejia), but what he has done is get people out consistently over a stretch of time where it's been pretty important for him to do so. Particularly when things like, say, his job were on the line. But he's proven up to the challenge and today was another good example of that. Given an early lead, Gee set out and smashed the flea—in this case an overmatched and anemic Twins lineup—with a sledgehammer, only allowing 1 run in 7.2 innings of work, and even that was unearned courtesy of an error by the irritatingly spastic Daniel Murphy. The end result was about 12 well-spent hours in Minneapolis, before finally and in some cases mercifully heading home.

Other items of housekeeping: Perhaps the least surprising move of the season is the non-return of Travis d'Arnaud to AAA with John Buck returning to the team tomorrow. d'Arnaud doesn't have a hit in 3 games, but I don't see anyone going nuts about that, particularly considering the fact that he's drawn 5 walks in the process. He's also probably going to see a majority of the playing time down the stretch, which is, of course, what he's here for. Gone is Anthony Recker, whom I'm sure we will remember about as fondly as, say, Vance Wilson or any other light-hitting backup Catcher. Braves in this week and I'm making an unannounced appearance tonight, in order to continue my streak of having seen at least one Mets/Braves game every year since 1998. This may or may not be a good idea, but with Zack Wheeler on the mound it will at least be interesting.