Growing Grass in the Concrete Jungle

Growing Grass in the Concrete Jungle

                                       

 

Opening Week of the season has provided New York with hope for an eventful summer. The Yankees are keeping their heads above water battling through injuries and the Mets are proving to be a tough out while at the same time showing that the future is full of promise. Today we’re going to look at both teams, how they’ve fared and why this will be one of the most fun baseball summers in recent memory.

Let’s start with the Yankees since they’re my favorite team and also because let’s face it, I make the rules around here. Coming into the season all signs pointed to the offense struggling with run producers like Teixeira and Granderson out and the Captain nursing his injury. The pitching will keep them in games but they will struggle to score. That’s what we all thought but it turns out that isn’t the case. In actuality the offense has played well and the pitching has been the Achilles heel. I fully expect this veteran pitching staff to come around and start doing what they’re capable of and when the offense is at full strength look out because this will be a dangerous team.

Another factor to remember is that this is the Yankees and trades and waiver pickups are never out of the question. The World Series victories may not be there but the team is a consistent postseason presence, save 2008, and that is thanks to the maneuvers of GM Brian Cashman. He has been fortunate to make some smart moves and also get lucky and catch lightning in a bottle when it comes to mid-season moves and I don’t see this year being any different.

Now let’s get off the 4 train at Grand Central and hop on the 7 over to Citi Field.

The Mets have played phenomenally thus far and though I don’t see it lasting all season and into the postseason they can be competitive and give the Nats and Braves a scare every now and again. John Buck will not last as the National League RBI leader but he’s a good veteran player who can handle a young staff and be a nice stopgap until Travis D’Arnaud is ready. As a matter of fact, the Mets have to be ecstatic because the longer Buck plays well the longer D’Arnaud’s service clock doesn’t have to be plugged in and using up juice.

On the pitching front Jonathan Niese and Matt Harvey have arguably been the best righty-lefty tandem in the game thus far. Niese is starting to put it all together and show that he can be a decent number 2 but more likely a phenomenal number 3 in a rotation and Matt Harvey is giving Met fans flashbacks to Dwight Gooden. Harvey became only the second pitcher in Mets history with consecutive starts of 7+ innings pitched and 3 hits or fewer hits to start a season. The other? Just some guy named Nolan Ryan. With Zack Wheeler waiting in the minors, the Mets will have a fantastic trio of young arms to build around in due time.

Offensively, this team is no longer David “Captain America” Wright and a bunch of fill-ins and castoffs. Daniel Murphy may never put up monster stats but the guy can handle a bat and work the hit and run game to perfection. Ike Davis and Lucas Duda may not fight for batting titles but they have huge power that teams need to be weary of and must be pitched to carefully. They could use another middle of the order righty, and D’Arnaud will be that guy soon enough but for now, as stated above, John Buck is doing just fine.

Ownership claims the money issues are behind them so look for the Mets to spend a little more money to help build up the roster and bring them back to prominence for years to come. The Yankees may have more promise in the present but the future belongs to the kids from Queens.

Be sure to follow me on Twitter @changingspeeds for more coverage of the baseball season.