Multi-Talented

The story on Wednesday afternoon was less that the Mets swept the Phillies and beat into submission a team they needed to beat into submission, but how they accomplished it. Their 7-0 victory may as well instead have been the Noah Syndergaard show as opposed to a Baseball game, since this fellow making his 4th Major League appearance pretty much stole the game. Not only did he do what we expected him to do and pitch shutout baseball into the 8th inning, but he helped his own cause with a bat in his hand, going 3 for 3 and mashing a Home Run in the process.

Syndergaard allowed the Phillies nothing of note in his 7.1 innings of work. He walked none, scattered 6 hits and struck out 6, while economically throwing 101 pitches. By time he left, the game was out of reach, so no matter how unseemly the finishing duo of Sean Gilmartin and Erik Goeddel might seem, they weren't going to blow Syndergaard's lead like Robles and the Two Torreses did to deGrom on Tuesday night.

However, it was Syndergaard's offense that got most of the attention. The Mets, facing the hopelessly obscure Sean O'Sullivan, hit 4 Home Runs. Lucas Duda hit two, which seems to be his M.O. on these weekly afternoon games, which is just fine with me. Michael Cuddyer hit one as well, his second in three games. But Syndergaard's 4th inning blast is the one everyone's going to remember. Mets pitchers tend not to hit Home Runs all that often, so it's kind of memorable when it does happen. Their last one was way back in 2012, when Jeremy Hefner connected for one, and before that, Johan Santana swatted one against Cincinnati in 2010. Prior to that, the list is dotted with names like John Maine, and Steve Trachsel, and Bobby Jones, and Mark Clark, and Armando Reynoso...not quite luminaries. But in these cases, Home Runs were sort of popgun fly balls that carried, or shots down one of the foul lines. Syndergaard did not hit a Home Run like this. Syndergaard hit a real Major League Home Run, a 430 foot bomb just to the left of dead Center Field, so not only did he hit it a long way, he actually went to the opposite field with it.

Some Pitchers can do this. They just happen to be good enough with a bat to hit like that. There aren't many of them, because generally hitters that are good enough tend not to become pitchers, but in some odd cases, you have a pitcher that's multi-talented like this. So, if you weren't already looking forward to Syndergaard's starts, now here's another wrinkle to anticipate.