Opening Night was frustrating. I will certainty not deny it. The Royals had swagger, were aggressive, and the Mets were caught napping for the first 7 innings or so of the ball-game. Whether it be the Royals knack for getting weakly-hit bloopers or the Mets' poorly timed errors, it looked like a repeat of the 2015 World Series. Despite this, I was able to locate some positives in last night's 4-3 loss.
1. Michael Conforto
Man, how good did he look?
As the DH, Conforto was replaced by Yoenis Cespedes in LF, a move that made sense as it allowed Juan Lagares to enter as the center fielder. Conforto, who had some big time home runs against the Royals last October, went 2-2 with 2 walks as well. The only downside was that he was caught stealing against Salvador Perez, but I loved the aggressiveness.
Conforto is going to have a huge season. I'm cautiously optimistic about 25-plus home runs with a .275-.280 or so batting average. While I love Juan Lagares, there is no way that he and Conforto should platoon this season, as Michael has done nothing to prove that he CANNOT hit left handers just yet.
2. Jerry Blevins
I understand it was only one appearance, but how big would it be for Jerry Blevins to have a full season of success this year? Of-course, the 32 year old broke his arm not once, but twice in 2015, and was brought back on a one year contract over the off-season. On Opening Night, Terry Collins gave him three batters to face, and he retired them all in order.
One of the biggest problems for the Mets last year was a lack of a left handed reliever in the bullpen, so all eyes will be on Blevins to see if he can continue his solid, albeit brief, success for the team in 2015.
3. The new double-play combo
Having Daniel Murphy and Wilmer Flores up the middle last season made it very difficult for the pitcher's to successfully generate double play ground balls. While neither Asdrubal Cabrera or Neil Walker have ever been regarded as excellent defenders, it was obvious that they were on the same page as they nonchalantly turned a few double plays to help out Matt Harvey big time.
I love Flores and will always be a Murphy fan, but if the new duo can put up decent offensive numbers and do all the little things in the field, I would have no problem whatsoever with the infield changes that the Mets made in the off-season.
4. The team was resilient
How many people shut off their TV after the Royals scored their fourth run? I know for a fact that I wanted to, but after last year, I knew that anything was possible. The Mets had an awesome 8th inning rally against Joakim Soria.
It all started with a Juan Lagares single up the middle, and continued with Curtis Granderson walking. After David Wright struck out, Yoenis Cespedes followed with a walk of his own, and Lucas Duda came to the plate. Duda singled on a soft line drive to left field, scoring 2 runners. After this, Neil Walker grounded into a force out, but picked up an RBI as Cespedes scored on the play.
Soria was clearly off his game, and the team took advantage. What stood out to me most was Neil Walker, as his hustle to first base kept the line moving and made it a one run game.
I think that the Mets are going to show a lot of this grittiness in 2016 as they are full of veteran players who know how to do the little things in order to win ballgames.
The next game is on Tuesday against Kansas City, with Noah Syndergaard facing off against Chris Young.
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