I, Bartolo

Last season, in Atlanta, Bartolo Colon was seen parading around the Mets dugout with a giant bucket of chewing gum, passing it around to teammates with a silly grin on his face.

Last night, in New York, Bartolo Colon was seen parading around the Citi Field mound, shutting down the Atlanta Braves with a silly grin on his face.

Life is good for Bartolo.

Bartolo continues to defy age and logic most times he takes the mound, and once again this was on display in spades last night. In tossing 8 shutout innings against the Atlanta Braves, Colon threw 91 pitches, 84 fastballs and 82 strikes. Yes, I'm pulling those numbers out of the air. But if I told you that straight off, you'd probably believe me, wouldn't you?

The Mets didn't need to generate much offense on this night; in general they probably won't need to against Atlanta, but the 4 runs they scored rather loudly off of Mike Foltynewicz in the 1st inning was enough. Of the first 5 batters against Foltynewicz (who boasts one of my favorite names in Baseball), 3 of them, David Wright, Yoenis Cespedes and Lucas Duda, put the ball in the seats. Colon also put a ball in the seats, granted it was a foul ball, but it was a real good shot and whenever Colon can get around on one like that you have to take notice.

Really, everything was pretty easy for Colon last night from start to finish. I don't know if much more than that needs to be said. It's not always like that for him but when it is, he does it with panache. And chewing gum.