Fight For Real Estate

Much like last night, you try to take the little moral victories away from lost games and lost series. Tuesday night, Noah Syndergaard did not throw a temper tantrum on the mound when things didn't go his way. This was a positive thing. Wednesday night, the Mets lost 7-3 in a game I didn't watch and based on the results I'm quite certain I didn't want to watch, as Dillon Gee made his return to the mound and promptly got lit on fire by the Padres, but for once, the Mets successfully made it through a trip to San Diego and did not lose any game 2-1, no extra innings, no walk off hit batsmen, no walk-off grand slams, none of that truly annoying stuff. The Mets made it through without any truly frustrating losses because they either rode a truly dominant pitching performance and won, or they were totally out of the game early and thus removed the need for some late inning mishaps.

Wednesday night, the mishaps came early and often, thanks to a triptych of errors, two by newly-anointed 3rd Baseman Ruben Tejada (whose renaissance has sort of been surprising and under the radar), that aided some early inning rallies that the Mets didn't really make any kind of an effort to respond to. Late, they attempted to rally against Craig Kimbrel, whom they've always managed to hit reasonably well, but the Chokemaster had too big of a lead to work with, so it didn't really lead to anything. There's not as much starch to Kimbrel now that he's not on the Braves anymore. I barely heard his name mentioned the first two games of the series, probably since he was a non-factor in two blowouts, but I've also heard he hasn't really adapted well to San Diego. I guess the people out there are too busy surfing (duuuude) to kiss his ass and maybe he's sensitive to this. Or maybe he's just not that good, and I was right the whole time. I don't know.

Regardless, the Mets are now done in San Diego, and not a moment too soon, because I think I'm tired of seeing them get Cory Spangenberg'ed to death. I've never heard of Spangenberg much before this series, but after three games, I've had enough. This is the kind of player that has "Future Marlin" written all over him and once that happens, it's a mortal lock that I'll sit through every game hoping some intrepid Mets pitcher sticks one in his ribs. Next stop on this Southwest swing is Arizona, where things have often gone exactly the opposite for the Mets as they do in San Diego. Something about that desert air agrees with their bats, I guess. With Matt Harvey on the mound tonight, returning to the scene of his sterling introduction to the Major Leagues, I'm sure he of all people would love to see that sort of a performance from his offense.