The New York Metropolitans took 3/4 games in what felt and sounded, like a hometown crowd at Loan Depot Park, In Miami. On Thursday (Opening Day) The 7 Line wore t-shirts that said “Queens South” on them, and I would have to concur with those folks that it most certainly looked and sounded that way. Before I go any further I have to give all the credit in the world to Mr. Cohen for literally putting his money where his mouth was, and sitting with The 7 Line for Opening Day, next to Mr. Darren Meenan. That was pretty fuckin cool, and I think more team owners should do shit like that. I’m not sure if Darren set that up or Uncle Stevie did but either way credit all around it seemed like a great time and everyone looked like they had a fantastic time.

“Mad” Max Scherzer took the ball on Opening Day to begin the 2023 season and overall gave us a halfway decent performance. He gave up 3 runs over 6 innings, struck out 6 batters and walked 2. Definitely not his best work, and I believe Max would tell you the same, however the Mets prevailed and won 5-3. The long ball is clearly still an issue for Max in year 2 of his Mets tenure. I think as the season progress’s you can expect to see Scherzer hit his stride and pitch better. He’s up there in age and the velocity has come down a bit but for the most part the command is still there. Max makes his mistakes here and there and that’s clearly where the batters seem to take their shots on him, resulting in balls over the fence. The really shitty news of Thursday came literally minutes before the first pitch as we learned that Kate Upton’s husband, Justin (Verlander), suffered a “Teres Major” noting that he felt some discomfort by his armpit. Verlander also said that if it were a playoff game, he would pitch through it. So it seems like the Mets plan is to re visit this issue this week and do some testing, hopefully Justin’s debut as a Met comes in next few days rather than months.

David Peterson looked real steady giving up just 1 run in game 2. However the Mets offense sputtered and was only able to score once, losing the game 2-1. Not a whole lot to say about that game, just a slow day and an unfortunate waste of a solid outing from Peterson (5 innings, 5 K’s, 1 walk) not much more you can ask from a guy thats supposed to be your depth starter with Quintana on the IL until around June/July. Game 3 was a big bounce back, “Big Drip” Tylor Megill looked real good out there. His line was solid (2 runs on 6 hits, 7 K’s). The idea of Meguill wasn’t as clear cut as you’d like, his spring wasn’t great and he ended last season in the total opposite direction he started at. I would say overall the expectations for Tylor were mixed, but overall he prevailed. He did however receive some help from Francisco Lindor in the bottom of the 5th inning, saving at the very least 1 run coming across the plate in a (at that time) 4-2 ball game. The series finale was probably the most interesting of the bunch considering it was Kodai Senga’s Mets debut. Definitely a super weird start, but after that 1st inning it was smooth sailing. Senga started out a little out of control, giving up a run immediately, and then loading the bases, he followed that up by getting 3 straight outs limiting the damage to just one run. Kodai continued to let guys on base here and there over the course of the 5.1 innings but he continued to work himself out of it. That really impressed the fuck out of me. I’m definitely no pitching guru but in my opinion, it’s not always the stuff you throw, It’s how you overcome the adversity of a game. Senga looked damn good, fooling guys at the plate and overcoming runners in scoring position more than once. Overall great outing for a guy that just made his MLB debut. Big FUCKING shoutout to Tommy Pham. This was a guy who was brought on to be a depth piece and most analysts are predicting he won’t be here come 4th of July. Tommy was brought here to be a 4th outfielder, and potentially bring some pop to the lineup, playing in the DH spot from time to time. Well, today, Tommy brought the fuckin POP. He put one into the seats in the top of the 5th inning, and continued the hit parade with HUGE double in the 7th to bring in fellow depth piece, Tim Locastro. Huge props to Pham for having the big day and really bailing us out of another slow and sluggish offensive day. It’s games like this that keep you on the roster, and I’m happy that Tommy was able to really make a statement today.

The Mets had a nice weekend, you really can’t ask for better than a 3-1 series victory to start out the season, especially after hearing you’re newly acquired $40 plus million dollar pitcher is gonna be on the IL for another week or so. However, injuries happen, and especially with older guys, there really isn’t that much you can do to prevent them. The most frustrating part about this weekend was the lack of pop. Now to be clear, I’m not complaining. As I’ve said before I’m plenty happy with the 3-1 start to the season. But honesty is key. The lack of pop was an issue last year and It’s continued into this year. It’s what made the idea of bringing in a guy like Carlos Correa more of a need, than a luxury. Teams like the Phillies and the Braves (in our division) will play us much tighter than a team like Miami will, and it’s really important that guys in the lineup have the ability to get extra base hits more often. Hopefully in this Brewers series coming up, we can see more of that. As always thank you for reading and LFGM!!