The game is hard. Running the game can be hard.
Which made what went down Sunday at Citi Field, along with its potential consequences, seem quite easy.
Noah Syndergaard’s first major league victory, 5-1 over the Brewers Sunday in his home major league debut, looked pretty elementary, as the big right-hander cruised through six innings while allowing just a run and three hits, walking one and striking out five. With their second straight victory, following five consecutive losses, the Mets exited crisis mode.
And by pitching so well, setting himself up for his next start Friday in Pittsburgh against the Pirates, Syndergaard presented a simple solution to the Mets’ impending possible logjam:
Syndergaard stays in the rotation, and Dillon Gee shifts to the bullpen.
“If we think Noah Syndergaard’s our best option in that spot, he’ll stay, I would guess,” Terry Collins said. “We’re trying to win. Those decisions will be made, and we’ll stick by them. It’s nice to have an option that Dillon’s coming back, and after his [Single-A rehab] outing [Saturday] night, he’s throwing the ball pretty good. If we decide, ‘Hey look, let’s put him in the ’pen and solidify that a little bit.’ ”
Now, be warned and be real: History shows that the more we discuss scenarios like this one, the more likely it is that something happens to render this issue moot. Someone gets injured, or underperforms, or fails a drug test. In spring training, Gee’s demotion to relief felt like a significant story right up until the moment Zack Wheeler went down with a torn UCL and catapulted Gee right back to where he started … as a starter.
However, as things stand now — with Gee set for at least one more rehab start as he works his way back from a strained right groin — this one constitutes a no-brainer. And that is partly because Syndergaard, the newcomer, is admirably using his brain to stay in the majors after his long apprenticeship at Triple-A Las Vegas.
Collins made a point of sharing how hard Syndergaard had worked since his big-league debut Tuesday, when he took the loss in the Mets’ 6-1 defeat to the Cubs at Wrigley Field. On Saturday night, Collins said, Syndergaard stood in the dugout during the Mets’ 14-1 victory over Milwaukee and initiated conversation with Collins and Mets pitching coach Dan Warthen about how to go after specific Brewers.
“I would love to stay,” Syndergaard said. “I’ll do everything possible to stay up here. I watched [Jacob] deGrom [Saturday] night pretty heavily and saw how he attacked hitters, and tried to transfer it over to the next day.”
It worked, needless to say. And he stayed cool, too, even after he accidentally drilled former Mets prospect Carlos Gomez in the helmet, removing Gomez from the game, in the sixth inning. It spoke well of Syndergaard he opened his postgame news conference by offering good wishes to Gomez, who said afterwards he was all right.
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In short time, Syndergaard has done strong damage control on his reputation of being, well, “a rockhead,” as another team’s scout recently described him. Remember his recent lack of Twitter discipline with haters? His spring-training confession that he fixated last year on getting promoted? Those seem more distant now.
And on the other side of the equation, with the Mets’ offense back from the dead and with Wilmer Flores enjoying a two-game streak without an error, the team can focus on another area of concern: the bullpen. They’ve gotten by with minimal damage, relying on the likes of Sean Gilmartin, Carlos Torres and Hansel Robles; that’s the trio that successfully connected Sunday’s bridge from Syndergaard to closer Jeurys Familia. They know that probably won’t last.
So add the selfless Gee, who can’t touch Syndergaard’s upside as a starter, to the bullpen. And maybe the rehabbing Vic Black and Bobby Parnell, both of whom followed Gee in Saturday night’s Single-A St. Lucie game, can come back aboard at the same time. For sure, there is no concern about bullpen excess with the Mets.
“I know that those decisions are coming down the line,” Collins said. “We’re getting there. Certainly, an outing like today makes it hard.”
Or, to look at it another way, it makes it very easy.