(Neil Miller/Sportsday Wire)
Twinkle, twinkle little star…How I wonder what you are…
The only star that is shining brightest early on for the Mets is Noah Syndergaard.
The man affectionately known as Thor took his home mound for the first time Tuesday night, pitching a brilliant seven innings with 12 strikeouts against the Miami Marlins.
He fanned seven of the first 10 batters to face him, and struck out the side in two separate frames.
It was his sixth double-digit strikeout performance and the third time over his last four regular-season appearances that he accumulated double figures in K’s.
“He (Noah) was tremendous tonight,” said Mets’ manager Terry Collins. “He did exactly what you wanted. He got us to the eighth inning. We just couldn’t put anything on the board for him to work with, but he was outstanding.”
He is even doing the small things right. A perfect sacrifice bunt in the second had to be fielded with a near-flawless throw from Jose Fernandez to throw out his counterpart at first.
Meanwhile, the Mets’ hitters remained in its dormant, lethargic state.
Despite a decent first two innings from their bats, the Mets never had a runner advance into scoring position over the next seven frames.
Terry Collins said that this team could not afford a down April…
Right now, this team is headed in that direction. In their first seven games, the Mets are scoring an average of 1.57 runs per game. They are also hitting an MLB-worst .187. That’s 42-for-225!
Time to wake up.