Holy shit! What a day! What a series! Our Metsies truly put a stamp on the series finale in Los Angeles! A whole lot to unpack, Scherzer gets tossed after 3 solid innings, the long awaited reunion with Syndergaard, Carrasco landing on the IL, Nimmo having a fantastic 5 hit day, including a 2 run piss missile to put the Mets ahead 2-1 at the time, and Jimmy Yacabonis absolutely saving the game, the series, and potentially the rest of this road trip on the West Coast. Also gotta be fair here, this is a Mets blog but give credit where credit is due, hats off to Clayton Kershaw getting his 200th win last night. Obviously we would rather it happen to the next guy and not against us, but congratulations to him. Pitching “Wins” aren’t really a stat I like to personally talk about because I think it’s much more a team stat than it is a player stat, but regardless as to how I feel, that is a major milestone nonetheless in what has been a spectacular pitching career, so once again congratulations to you, Mr. Kershaw, and God Bless you for the rest of your career. Now lets get into what we just watched, and talk about what we are about to see just 415 miles north of Dodger Stadium:

Jimmy Yacabonis: First thing’s first, let’s talk about the guy who saved the day, and is the reason for the smile on my face as I continue to type this up. Whatever happened in the heated discussion between Max Scherzer and that FUCKBAG Phil Cuzzy is a larger discussion, and we will get into that later. Whether Max was genuinely cheating or not, the reality was the same in that moment. Manager Buck Showalter had to find a way to navigate the next 3 innings at least (assuming Max made it to the 6th). And Buck turned to a guy who has not only less than 4 innings on the year, but a guy who also hasn’t pitched 3 straight innings since 2019 (On the stat sheet it says he went 2.2 IP he was in from the 4th-middle of the 6th so we can call it give or take 3 innings). Jimmy Yacabonis came in without any advanced notice, and pitched against one of the best lineups in this league, and kept them to 1 run, on 2 hits and a walk. A round of applause for Jimmy!! Truly remarkable performance from a guy who is completely unproven in our eyes. High leverage, high pressure situation, and the ship remained steady through the treacherous waters. That was really big for us. Not just to save the game and the series, but potentially to know going forward that this is a guy we can maybe count on. Bullpens are volatile, one day they’re hot the next day they’re imploding. It’s good to know who you can go to when times get tough.

Syndergaard Reunion In Los Angeles: Not a whole lot to really get into. Noah had a decent day (6 IP, 5 hits, 2 ER, 2K’s and 2 walks). I wasn’t able to watch the game I had to listen to it on WCBS 880, so I cannot tell you how he physically looked. He definitely threw a ton of strikes, and it sounded like he changed his game a bit. Patrick and Keith talked about how he went from being a physically dominating flamethrower, to a more refined pitcher, depending on his movement more than his speed. Overall that really not a bad line, the strikeouts were down but he limited the damage to 2 runs, and he most certainly gave the Dodgers a chance to win this game. He didn’t get dominated, but by no means was he untouchable. Solid outing from your #2 guy in a rotation. I think if the Wilpon’s still owned the team and the Mets were a team that refused to spend properly, there would have been more bad blood from the fan base, but for the most part I personally feel like its a “meh” topic. It’s significant because of his history here i will give you that, but so much time has elapsed and we’ve replaced him with better talent, and we’re in a significantly better place than where we were 2 years ago.

Carrasco On The IL: Not much to really say here either. The Mets told us he’s got a small bone chip in his right elbow, he received an injection today and hopefully he can resume throwing in the next 2 weeks. Is this a phantom injury? Is this a real thing and maybe that’s why Carlos looked so bad the past few starts? We have no idea. What we do know is that this gives Jose Butto a chance to take the mound every 5th day, at least until Justin Verlander is back from the IL. Butto looked real good last weekend in Oakland, so it will be nice to see him get tested against a better lineup, in San Francisco.

Brandon Nimmo 5 for 5 (1 HR, 5 hits, 2 RBI’s 2 Runs): Awesome day for Nimmo! The guy has been on fire since the start of the season. All 3 phases of his game have been special. In the field he’s making every catch that comes within a 5 mile radius, at the plate he’s not only finding ways to get on base, but he’s slapping the ball all over the yard, and once he gets on base….he’s actually stealing bases!! Nimmo (although super quick) was never a guy known for stealing bases. I’m not sure whether it is the rule changes, or maybe #9 is just feelin himself. Whatever it is, let’s carry it into San Francisco and keep raking!

Mad Max Get’s Tossed: In case you missed it, I would recommend you take a look at the actual video itself, because as I said before, I had to listen to this game on the radio, so while it was happening I was depending on Patrick and Keith to be my eyes and ears on the situation. Basically Max Scherzer got checked by the umpires in the 3rd inning, there was a discussion, Scherzer then ran into the dugout, and came back with a new baseball mit. The assumption from what it looked like was that the officials did not like whatever was on Max’s glove, and so to alleviate the situation, he came back with a mit that had nothing on it (we assume because he was then allowed to pitch). Following inning begins and Max is once again check for illegal substances, and a loud and vibrant discussion between #21 and the umpires followed. From what it looked like Max was pleading with officials that it was “rosin” (MLB distributes this to all teams to be used on the mound in between pitches) and long story short he was then kicked from the game which obviously lead to a meltdown by Max until he was helped into the dugout by Buck Showalter. We have no idea who is telling the truth and what actually was said out on that field today. What I can say is this, I personally would love to know what was on his baseball mit today. And if MLB was genuinely serious about the rules they put fourth in front of us, then they should test that baseball mit worn by Max Scherzer and tell all of us what they found, because this was some show Phil Cuzzy put on today in front of a large crowd at Dodger Stadium.

Our Second Series In The Bay Area: This series should no doubt be more challenging than last weekend was. The San Francisco Giants have essentially turned into “Mets West” as my friend, Kyle Gelling (@KyleGelling on Twitter) likes to refer to them, as they have created a roster full of Mets castaways, and somewhat to their credit some of those guys have really thrived there. JD Davis, Wilmer Flores, Darin Ruf, and Michael Conforto have all made themselves at home on the West Coast. Although 6-11, the Giants are no doormat. There is plenty of pop in that lineup to run the score up any night of the week, and if we know anything as Mets fans, we know ex-Mets love to turn it on against us in a series. At the end of the day I don’t care how good any of those guys look for the next 4 days…just win the series, and get back home to New York in good health. LFGM!