Mets Post Historic No-Hitter Against Phillies

 METS 3 - PHILLIES 0 

There is just something really different about this Mets team; dare we say, even magical.

 

For the second time in franchise history, the New York Mets pitched a no-hitter. Some 10-years after Johan Santana became the only starting pitcher in Mets history to start and finish a no-hitter, Mets fans witnessed five pitches combine for one on Friday night against the Philadelphia Phillies.

 

Tyler Megill, Drew Smith, Joely Rodriguez, Seth Lugo, and Edwin Diaz will now be joined at the hip for all time after tossing one of the most memorable games in Mets history.

And to think it was not even close to being easy. Not against a Philadelphia team that had whipped the floor with the Colorado Rockies.

The Mets needed 159 pitches to get through it all, the most ever thrown for a no-hitter. The previous mark was owned by the Houston Astros who tossed 151 pitches in a combined no-no of the New York Yankees back in 2003 when Houston was still a National League team. 

Mets pitchers walked six batters, and found themselves in nine full counts. In fact the Phillies even had two runners in scoring position when it was all said and done.

Yet, the Mets found a away.

Bryce Harper struck out once; Nick Castellanos struck out three times; J.T. Realmuto struck out three times. Kyle Schwarber drew three walks.

It was an impressive display.

 

Amazingly Megill, who started the game, kept the no-hitter going even though he was pitching in a scoreless game for a better part of his start.

The Mets didn't even score until Jeff McNeil drove in Eduardo Escobar and Matt Canha on a two-run single in the fifth. Pete Alonso put the exclamation point with a solo home run in the sixth. 

Edwin Diaz closed it out striking out Harper, Castellanos and Realmuto in succession to nail down the no-hit save.

The celebration went deep into the night.

Yankees Explode Offensively vs. Royals

 

The suddenly surging Yankees won their seventh straight game Friday night behind four home runs en route to a 12-2 smack down of the Kansas City Royals.

Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Rizzo, and Gleyber Torres all went deep as the Yankee posted double-digits in runs for the fourth time in this current winning streak.

 

Stanton and Rizzo both went deep in the first inning as the Yankees built an early 3-0 lead. While the Royals would strike back, scoring a couple of runs to get to within 3-2, Nestor Cortes kept the Royals at bay. The lefty struck out three batters, scattered eight hits over five innings of work for the Bronx Bombers as he lowered his ERA to 1.31.

The Yankees put the game away in the later inning, scoring a total of nine runs between the seventh and eighth innings combined.

D.J. LaMahieu got it started with a RBI single in the seventh, scoring Isiah-Kiner Falefa to make it a 4-2 ballgame. Judge followed with a mammoth three-run homer to give the Yanks a 7-2 advantage.

 In the eighth Gleyber Torres went deep with a two run bomb to make it 9-2. Kyle Higashioka capped it off  with a bases clearing double. 

 The Yankees had 11 hits overall in the contest. New York owns the best record in the American League at 14-6, an incredible run considering how slowly the Yankees started out the of the gate for the 2022 season.

Giants Ace Draft With Picks of Thibodeaux & Neal; Jets Get Sauce

 The New York Giants flipped the football world on its head in the NFL draft with the surprise drafting of Oregon star defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux with the fifth overall pick. 

Not many had the Giants taking the talented and brash defensive end, who some have questioned his passion for football. Clearly the Giants didn't agree with that sentiment. As ESPN reported after the pick was made, Giants General Manager Joe Schoen traveled to Eugene, Oregon to watch Thibodeaux work out, and the Giants held a Zoom meeting with him this week. They love the kid.

He's explosive off the edge --- ranking third in college football in QB pressures --- something the Giants haven't had since they had the likes of Osi Umenyiora, Michael Strahan and Justin Tuck ruling at the Meadowlands. 

Thibodeaux told anyone who would listen that he wanted to play in New York, even telling SNY early Thursday that he considers New York a "second home." Now those wishes come to fruition.   He is a tremendous pick up for the Giants, and it probably deflated the balloons of some Jets fans who were hoping he would drop to 10. 

What made the drafting of Thiodeaux even better for Big Blue was the fact they were still able to draft the guy everyone pegged to them all along: offensive lineman Evan Neal. Neal, who is listed at 6-foot-7, 337 lbs, is a right tackle and will fit in nicely opposite Andrew Thomas. 

The Giants now have two huge bookends surrounding Daniel Jones, who is in a "make it or break it" season. The Giants declined to pick up Jones' fifth year option on Thursday -- not totally surprising considering the new regime of Schoen and Head Coach Brian Dabol will eventually want to get their own quarterback at some point. 

Grade for the Giants: A++

Meanwhile, the Jets got the player they needed with the fourth overall selection in Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner. The Jets could have easily gone defensive end here as well, but chose to answer a pressing need at corner back. 

Listed at 6-foot-3 with 33.5 inch long arms, Garnder is a physical freak. He didn't give up a single touchdown in college at Cincinnati, and quarterbacks had a measly 30.4 QBR against throwing to him. He is a ball hawk, and likes to get into the faces of wide receivers. 

With the likes of Tyreek Hill and Stefon Diggs in the AFC East, the Jets desperately needed a big time corner, and they got him in Sauce Gardner. 

The Jets second selection of the first round left a lot of heads scratching. 

Garrett Wilson is an explosive wide receiver, and incredibly fast with a 40-time of 4.38 seconds. He had a big year at Ohio State last year with 1,058 yards and 12 touchdowns. The concern is his diminutive size of 5-foot-11. The Jets already have a pair of smallish wide recievers in Elijah Moore and Braxton Berrios. While Wilson adds speed to the lineup, he doesn't answer the Jets glaring need for a true number one receiver who is big and physical. 

The Jets tried to make trades for Tyreek Hill and Deebo Samuel, but nothing came of it. There was rumors they were interested in A.J. Brown and DK Metcalf, but Seattle and Tennessee were never going to deal them. The Jets needed wide out help, but one has to wonder if they would have been better off taking Alabama's Jameson Williams. 

Williams did have ACL surgery in January, which may have changed their decision making. Wilson is a wait and see situation. 

Jets Draft Grade: A-

Nets on Brink of Elimination as KD-Kyrie Marriage Proving a Bust

 CELTICS 109 - NETS 103

The Brooklyn Nets are on the brink of elimination, and with it, they are likely on the brink of watching the gamble they made in the summer of 2019 come crashing down.

The Nets fell to the Boston Celtics in Game 3 of their first round playoff series by the count of 109-103; Brooklyn now trails that series 3-0. Barring a miraculous comeback, the Nets will face elimination every time they step on the court in this series beginning Monday night in Game 4.

Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving had lackluster efforts on Saturday. Both All Stars each scored only 16 points, while combining to go 12-for-28 from the field.

Meanwhile, Jayson Tatum, who has been all world already in this series, was unstoppable once again in Game 3, netting 39 points on 13-of-29 shooting, including 4-for-13 from downtown, and 9-for-10 from the free throw line.

Jaylen Brown added 23 points in the favor of the Celtics.

For Durant and Irving, the Nets run the past two seasons has all been about the potential success of these two All Stars coming together, and for the most part it hasn't work out. They were supposed to user in an era of unstoppable basketball, with stars from across the league crawling to New York to play with them. And That too hasn't worked out.

Whether it be injury, or the failure that was James Harden's short-lived tenure in Brooklyn to now, suddenly, an inactive Ben Simmons -- who has yet to set foot on the court in a Nets uniform -- nothing has worked for Brooklyn.

This year was all about getting Irving back on the floor, especially for home games, even though he is supposedly unvaccinated against COVID-19. The Nets got what they wanted, Irving returned to the floor, he played well down the stretch in the regular season, but this was all about the playoffs, and thus far it hasn't work out.

If the Nets go out in four or five games, it will be hard not to look back at the Durant-Irving era as anything but a failure in Brooklyn.

Classless Yankees fans Mare Walk-Off Victory Over Cleveland

It was one of the more disturbing and bizarre scenes one could imagine at a baseball stadium. In the moments following the Yankees 6-5 walk-off victory over the Cleveland Guardians, Yankees fans started throwing garbage onto the field in the direction of the Guardians outfielders.

Both teams sprinted into the outfield to assist the Guardians players who were drawing the ire of Yankees fans. Even Yankees broadcaster John Sterling called the fans who threw garbage onto the field as "Hooligans," and not "Yankees fans."

 Apparently the incident was precipitated earlier in the game after Isiah-Kiner Falefa tied the game on a double, Cleveland right fielder Oscar Mercado pointed at the stands and center fielder Myles Straw scaled the chain-link fence to confront a Yankees fan.

Straw later told reporters after the game that Yankees fans are the "classless...worst fanbase on the planet."

This is not the first time that Yankees fans have behaved badly in the Bronx. Just last season a fan was banned for life after throwing a baseball at Red Sox outfielder Alex Verdugo.

And it isn't just baseball where we have seen an influx of troubling player-fan interactions. The NBA has been littered with it. One can point to the infamous Malice at the Palace in Detroit all those years ago when Indiana Pacers' Ron Artest ran into the stands to pulverize a Detroit Pistons fan who he thought threw a bottle at him.

 

Just last year when the NBA allowed fans back into arenas there were reports of fans throwing garbage at players. And just last week, Nets star Kyrie Irving flipped the middle finger at Boston fans during Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.

It is becoming disturbingly apparent that the lines between the players and fans are blurring.  The behavior on display by Yankees fans was reprehensible, and one that will stain a once proud fan base. Those who tossed garbage in the direction of the Cleveland Guardians should, and likely will face banishment from the ballpark.

Yankes Fans Pound Amazon Prime Coverage

 It has been a tough couple weeks for streamers of late. The trouble seemed to start with the lackluster rollout of Apple TV+'s MLB coverage, which was decried by fans for either its glitchy interface or the quality of the broadcast teams in general. 

Then came the news that Netflix, the streaming giant that really started us all down this path of pay-to-watch content platforms reported a lose of over 200,000 subscribers, creating a sell-off of its once powerful stock tumbling downward to $215 a share. This for a stock that at one point was closing in on $700 a share back in November. 

Add that to the whole Disney vs. Ron deSantis controversy down in Florida, and the apparent disgust that NBA legend Jerry West, and others have for the HBO Max series "Winning Time," which is very, very, very loosely based on the Showtime Lakers of the 1980s to the point West's own attorney's are asking for a retraction of his portrayal on the show. 

In case you are wondering West is portrayed as a rageaholic on the program, something that many have said is not like him at all. 

Now, Yankees fans are upset over the Bronx Bombers package on Amazon. Unlike Apple TV+, the Amazon stream is the actual YES Network broadcast, although instead of it appearing on the YES Network, or WPIX Channel 11, the game was exclusively on Amazon. 

Last night's Yankees win over Cleveland was the first of 21 exclusive games on the streamer. 

The reactions speak for themselves. 

 

People are clearly upset about having to pay more money for a streaming service just to watch a Yankees game. Others complained of lagging or inability to access the stream if they were out of the NYC market. Not good. And especially for a service that is spending millions upon millions on ramping up its sports coverage, particularly with the NFL later this year. 

It will be fascinating to see what the reaction will be to Thursday Night Football later this year. If fans in home markets can not access the stream of the game, or if the game is only available on Amazon there will be plenty of screaming.

Are the New York Mets the Best Team in Baseball?

 At 11-4 the New York Mets have the most wins in Major League Baseball, even if they trail by percentage points to the LA Dodgers who are 10-3. The Mets have gotten to this point with great starting pitching, and clutch hitting. It also helps to have a veteran manager in Buck Schowalter, who to this point has put his players in positions to excel. 

There is a different vibe to this team; it has been apparent from the start. Right from the moment Francisco Lindor got hit by a pitch in Washington the second game of the season, and Showalter led the team out of the dugout in protest -- this has been a team that has been totally cohesive. 

Check out this week's vlog for more... 

Nestor Cortes Pitches Immaculate Inning, Yankees Still Lose to O's

 ORIOLES 5 - YANKEES 0

Yankees starting pitcher Nestor Cortes had a rare feat that few enjoy, pitching an immaculate inning against the Baltimore Orioles as he struck out the side on just nine pitches. Nine! How rare is the immaculate inning? There have only been 106 immaculate innings in baseball history.

Cortes wound up striking out 12 batters in five innings of work, keeping the Yankees in a scoreless game during the early stages.

Unfortunately for Cortes, the Yankees offense had no answers for Bruce Zimmerman. Zimmerman and three relievers held the Yankees to just four hits, all of them singles.

The Orioles went to work scratching out five runs in the bottom of the eighth. Ex-Yankees Rougned Odor's two-run single staked the Orioles to a 2-0 lead. Kelvin Gutierrez would follow with a two-run double to make it 4-0. Jorge Mateo capped off a 3-for-4 afternoon with a RBI single to push across the final run of the day.

The loss dropped the Yankees at 5-5 on the season. New York also lost two of three to the O's over the weekend, a huge disappointment against one of the weaker teams in the American League.

Met Brought Back Down to Earth After Loss to Zona

DIAMONDBACKS 3 - METS 2 

After an emotionally charged Opening Day that saw the Mets thump the Arizona Diamondbacks 10-3, on the same day they unveiled the Tom Seaver statue, it was only a matter of time that the Mets got a slight reality check. 

They received it Saturday in a 3-2 loss to Arizona. 

Seth Lugo after giving up 2 runs. Getty Images.

Zac Gallen and three D-Back relievers stymied the Mets, holding the Amazin's to just three hits over the games first seven innings. Gallen was especially tricky on the Mets. He held the Mets to just two hits over four innings, and allowed only one run to second base. 

The D-Backs eventually broke through  against the Mets bullpen with a two-run blast by Sergio Alcantra and a RBI double by Ketel Marte in the seventh inning to take a 3-0 lead.  Joely Rodriguez took the lose, although Seth Lugo was charged with a pair of runs.

The Mets would trim that deficit down to a single run when Starling Marte hit his second homer in as many days to make it a 3-2 game. The Mets would go down quietly in the ninth. 

 

The loss drops the Mets to 6-3, and serves as a bit of a wake up call. As good and consistent as the Mets offense has been in the early going. And as good as its starting pitching has been, the Mets bullpen remains a huge problem. 

Carlos Carrasco was brilliant in his second start of the year. He allowed only three hits over five innings of work with eight strikeouts. 

However Rodriguez and Lugo have been anything but lockdown. Rodriguez, a former Yankee whom the Mets acquired in a trade for Miguel Castro has an ERA at 13.50. Lugo has an ERA at 8.31. It signifies a major problem. Mets starters have a 1.23 ERA this year in 44 innings of work. The Mets bullpen has given up 13 earned runs in 44 innings, or an ERA of 4.50. 

If the Mets are going to be serious about challenging for the NL East, this bullpen must improve, or be improved. 

Mets Honor Tom Seaver with Long Awaited Statue

 

It was an emotional morning as Tom Seaver’s statue was unveiled before friends, family, Mets alumni, and of course the fans at Citi Field in Queens.

Tom Seaver statue. Getty Images

 

Seaver’s widow, Nancy and their two daughters, Sarah and Ann Elizabeth were on hand for the ceremony. Nancy tried to hold back tears as she said in her opening statement, “Tom, it’s nice to have you here, where you belong.”

 Mets Hall of Famer Mike Piazza called Seaver the Greatest Met of All Time, reflecting back to the day Piazza’s own father to Philadelphia to see Seaver pitch against the Phillies.

Let's relieve some of the festivities: 

Mets Off to Fast Start Under Buck Showalter

 The New York Mets are off to a scintillating start to the 2022 season under new skipper Buck Showalter. At 3-1, the Mets were very impressive in their series against a bad Washington Nationals team. Now they attention turns to Philly. 

Plus I talk about the Aaron Judge contract dispute, and the Apple TV+ meltdown from fans! 

Lindor Hit to Face Motivates Mets to Pound Nationals, Improve to 2-0

 METS 7 - NATIONALS 3 

The Washington Nationals may have woken up a sleeping giant in the New York Mets. 

With the Mets already leading 4-3 in the fifth inning, Francisco Lindor squared to bunt. Little did he know what was coming next as a pitch by Steve Cishek zipped out of his hands and smacked Lindor in the front of his helmet, knocking him to the ground. 

Mets manager Buck Showalter exploded out of the dugout, screaming at Cishek with the entire Mets bench right behind him. Both benches cleared, but no punches were thrown. 

Showalter indicated after the season opener on Thursday that he was not happy with the Nationals after James McCann and Pete Alonso were both drilled near the head in the Mets 5-1 win. His frustration, and the Mets frustration, boiled over on Friday night. 


 

If anything the incident indicates how close this Mets club is already. These guys have a chip on their shoulder, and will go to battle with one another. That comes from Showalter, and the moment could serve as a great tool for team building. 

As for Lindor, according to reports, he was cleared of a concussion and all tests on him were negative.

After tempers settled down, the Mets used the incident as fuel to put the Nationals away.  In the sixth inning, Matt Canha and Jeff McNeil both reached on singles before Starling Marte drove both of them home on a single to left center to give the Mets a 6-3 lead. 

Later, after a lengthy rain delay, Jeff McNeil drove home Pete Alonso, who led off the ninth inning with a double to put the Mets big 7-3. 

McNeil had a huge night at the plate, collecting three hits including a solo home run that gave the Mets an early 1-0 lead. Marte also had a big day with three RBI for the Amazin's. 

The Lindor incident combined with the rain in the late stages, a power outage in the stadium before first pitch, and the apparent overwhelming anger by everyone on social media over the Apple TV+ coverage, overshadowed Max Scherzer's return to Washington. 

Scherzer wasn't dominant, but was good enough on Friday. He held his old team to just three runs over six innings, while walking one and striking out six. Scherzer is 1-0 in his new threads as a Met. 

The Mets (2-0) will give the ball to Chris Bassit on Saturday night to try to nail down the series victory.  

Yankees Edge Out Red Sox After Ugly Start

 YANKEES 6 - RED SOX 5 - 11 Innings 

It wasn't pretty, in fact it was down right ugly for most of the day, but the Yankees came away with a 6-5 win over Boston in extras to open the season. 

Josh Donaldson who was acquired along with Isiah-Kiner Falefa from Minnesota for Gary Sanchez and Gio Urshela, turned out to be the hero, lining the game-winning single up the middle in the bottom of the 11th inning to drive in Kiner-Falefa with the deciding run.

Donaldson finished 2-of-6 in his first game as a Yankee, capping off what was a bizarre day at the stadium. 

How bizarre? Well it started with Gerrit Cole yelling at Billy Cyrstal to hurry up with the ceremonial first pitch because it threw him off his timing. If you want to believe that. 

The result? Cole served up a two-run homer to Rafael Devers, and a RBI double to J.D. Martinez to give the Red Sox a 3-0 lead. 

Cole, who struggled after getting caught with Spider Tack last season, finished his uneven day giving up three runs over four innings. The questions about his ability to lead this staff on a consistent basis will only continue, especially against a team like Boston. 

Meanwhile, the Yankees stormed back the only way they know how: the long ball. 

Anthony Rizzo's two-run bomb in the bottom of the first got the party started for New York. Giancarlo Stanton later tied the game at three on a solo shot in the bottom of the fourth.  

After Boston took the lead right back on Alex Verdugo's RBI single, the Yankees again relied on the long ball to tie the game, this time from D.J. LeMahieu, who crushed a pitch to right center in the sixth inning. The homer had to feel especially good for LeMahieu who struggled for most of the season last year as he battled a herniated disc injury.

Give a lot of credit to the Yankees bullpen for this one. After Cole's struggles, the Yankees had to rely on seven different relievers to shut down the Red Sox. Aside from Clay Holmes giving up a run on three hits in the sixth inning, the bullpen was fantastic in blanking the Red Sox and forcing extra innings. 

 The Yankees (1-0) will try to do it again on Saturday afternoon behind Luis Severino.

https://twiter.com/CespedesBBQ/status/1512480263439515648?s=20&t=Nr96bcw5rvzY8hXuVlfDlg

Yankees and Aaron Judge Can't Reach Deal, Is On His Way to Free Agency?

 

On the day the New York Yankees open the 2022 season against the Boston Red Sox, word came down from General Manager Brian Cashman that slugger Aaron Judge could not come to terms on a long term deal with the Yankees.

According to Jeff Passan of ESPN, the Yankees offered Judge a seven-year, $213 million contract, with $17 million in addition as part of arbitration that would have brought the total salary to $230 million. It would have paid him around $30.5 million a year. It would have been the highest annual average the Yankees have ever give a player.

 "Obviously, our intent is to have Aaron Judge stay as a New York Yankee as we move forward, and I know that his intent as well, which is a good thing. We're going to be entering those efforts in a new arena, which would be at the end of the season when free agency starts, and maybe that will determine what the real market value would be, because we certainly couldn't agree at this stage on a contract extension."

Judge hit .287 last season with 39 homers and 98 RBI, it was his best offensive output since his rookie year in 2017, when he burst onto the scene with 52 homers and 114 RBI.

The soon-to-be 30-year-old is taking the gamble on himself, which sometimes can work -- if the player stays healthy, and sometimes can backfire -- just look at ex-Met Michael Conforto who hasn't signed with anyone up to this point.

If the Yankees let Judge walk and he doesn't return to the Bronx, is there a chance he ends up in Queens next season? Mets owner Steve Cohen has stated many times he'd be willing to explore all options to improve his ball club.

Plus Mets fans would love nothing better than to get even for the day George Steinbrenner signed away Darryl Strawberry all those years ago in the mid-90s. 

Other logical spots would be the Dodgers, or Red Sox depending on those teams salary cap situations.

For now, Aaron Judge plays the 2022 season without a contract in place, adding more intrigue to the Yankees season.

Megill pitches like an "Ace" as Mets Thumb Nats in Soggy Opener

 

For a few hours late Thursday night, the heavy downpours that smacked the north-east dissipated in Washington D.C., and a cloud of uncertainty parted after Tylor Megill gave the New York Mets exactly what they were hoping for in a 5-1 Opening Night win over the Washington Nationals on Thursday night.

Megill was dominant, hitting the radar gun at 99 mph on multiple occasions as he blanked the Washington Nationals over five superb innings, allowing only three hits and striking out six.

“He was awesome. He was electric,” first baseman Pete Alonso said.

Taylor Megill pitches for the Mets. Getty Images.

Megill is not new to this. The 6-foot-7, 26-year old was impressive last season in his rookie year, recording 99 Ks in 89 innings. Outside of deGrom and Max Scherzer, Megill was the Mets’ best pitcher in Spring Training, giving manager Buck Showalter the confidence he needed to go with the once-unknown Mets starter.

Meanwhile, the Mets did just enough offensively to assist Megill into the winners’ circle. With the bases loaded in a scoreless game in the top of the fifth inning, James McCann took a pitch off his back foot, after sneakily sticking it out in order to get hit. It helped drive Robinson Cano in with the first run of the night.

Starling Marte would follow, grounding into an RBI fielder’s choice to make it 2-0 in the fifth.

The Mets would finally flex some muscle an inning later when Matt Canha got his first Mets RBI on a hard single to center to drive home Pete Alonso to make it 3-0. Jeff McNeill followed lining a blooper to right to push home Cano to give the Mets a 4-0 lead.

Francisco Lindor would tally the final run of the night for the Mets on a hard single to left-center in the seventh inning to give the Mets a 5-1 lead.

Adam Ottavino was impressive in his first outing out of the pen for the Amazin’s, striking out two batters in an inning in relief. Both Seth Lugo and Edwin Diaz tossed shutout innings. Trevor May struggled, giving up a mammoth home run to Juan Soto in the bottom of the sixth.

The Mets (1-0) turn the ball over to Max Scherzer tonight in his first game as a Met. Of course, you can watch that game IF, and only, IF you have access to Apple TV+.

Max Scherzer Opening Day Start in Doubt with Hamstring Tightness

 As if things couldn't get any more complicated for the New York Mets, it just did on Saturday when official word came down that Max Scherzer will be sidelined with hamstring tightness. 

Scherzer was slated to start Opening Day after Jacob deGrom was sidelined with a stress reaction in his right shoulder blade. 

"Don't know," Scherzer said when asked when he would pitch again. "I've had these little hamstring injuries before. They go away in days. Fortunately enough I've been pretty good to not have serious hamstring injuries. I've had just little hiccups.

"I think this is the same thing. For me, it's just a day-to-day thing ... but when you're dealing with hammies, you never know."

If Scherzer can't pitch on Thursday in Washington against his old team, than it would likely be either Chris Bassitt or Taijuan Walker who gets the ball to open the season for the Mets. 

Scherzer signed a $130 million deal with New York this off-season. 

As for deGrom, 33, he has no time-table to return. The injury could keep him sidelined for up to four weeks. Although Michael Wacha, while pitching for the Cardinals, had a similar injury and was lost for two-and-a half months. 

What a way to open the season. 

 

 

Jacob deGrom Out Four Weeks Right Shoulder Injury

 Jacob deGrom's 2022 season begins the same way his 2021 season ended, on the injury list. 

So it goes for the New York Mets as they embark on what was supposed to be a 2022 season that everyone was looking forward to. A year that had great expectations. 

Instead, the Mets will be without their ace Jacob deGrom for at least a month after an MRI to his shoulder revealed a stress reaction to his right scapula.  Jeff Passan reported that deGrom would miss "significant time." The Mets issued a statement it would be four weeks. 

Regardless this is a huge blow for the Mets. 

The Mets were hoping to feature a rotation with deGrom and former Nationals ace Max Scherzer at the top of the rotation, giving New York what many considered the best starting rotation in baseball, if not, certainly the best 1-2 punch in the game. 

Now Scherzer will be the one getting the ball on Opening Day next Thursday in his old digs at Nationals Park. While the Mets rotation is still very good with Chris Bassit, Taijuan Walker and Carlos Carrasco behind Scherzer, it would have looked a lot different with the 33-year old, two-time Cy Young Award winner at the top of it. 

There has to be some grave concern about deGrom's future. He has suffered a number of ailments the past two seasons including, neck, back, shoulder, forearm, and elbow injuries. Last year, his forearm issues prevented him from pitching during the second half of last season.  

After a number of MRI's revealed that there was no serious damage except a forearm strain. However in July, Sandy Alderson revealed that there inflammation around the UCL, or a partial tear of the ligament. It wasn't enough to warrant Tommy John Surgery, a procedure deGrom has already had once in his career. 

Instead the Mets let it heal, and deGrom didn't pitch again last year. 

 

Now he has a shoulder problem. The scapula is the shoulder blade. According to ESPN stress reactions are heeled through rest. ESPN also referenced that former Met Michael Wacha, when he was with the Cardinals in 2014, had a similar injury and was out for a little over two months. 

If injuries continue to be a problem for deGrom, one has to wonder how much longer he can keep going as one of the better pitchers in the sport. Plus this is a walk-year for deGrom, pitching and pitching well in 2022 matters to him, and the Mets. 

New York wants to make a decision on whether to invest big money in deGrom who will be 34 going on 35 in 2023. The injuries, if they continue to derail his seasons, will push the Mets toward a choice they don't want to make.