Mike's Rant #1

Mother’s Day has come and gone. I hope everyone had a good day. Mothers around the world should be appreciated every single day and not just for one day set aside. As an annual tradition, players around the league dawn themselves in all things pink, from pink bats to pink wristbands and pink socks. Let’s get right down to business starting with the New York Mets. I’ve been a Mets fan since birth, heck I’ve lived in Flushing my whole life so excuse my blatant homerisms. How about them Mets?!? With Sunday’s enthralling win against the Padres at PETCO Park coupled with the Nationals extra-inning lost to the Cubs, first place in the NL East now belongs to the Metropolitans. The Mets salvaged a four game split winning the last two. Matt Harvey pitched 6 solid innings of 2-run ball with 10 strikeouts and 2 walks. He was effective enough to pick up his 3^rd win of the season. Cespedes launched his 11th homerun of the young season. During the 4 game series, Cespedes went 5-for-14 with three home runs, five RBI and three runs scored. JeurysFamilia pitched a perfect 9^th to earn his 10^th save of the season aided by Eric Campbell’s impressive last out. The Mets leap frogged the Nationals for first place. Speaking of the Nationals, I’m sure they couldn’t wait to get the heck out of Chicago and return home for a three game series against the Tigers. Javier Baez’s walkoff homerun in the 13^th inning vaulted the Cubs to a hot 24-6 record start and capped off a 4 game sweep of the visitors. Interesting to note, Bryce Harper had no official at bat as he was walked 6 times and hit by a pitch. This was largely due to the inept Ryan Zimmerman was not clutch at all today stranding 14 men on base. Maybe Dusty Baker ought to put Murphy hitting behind Harper, otherwise teams will just intentionally walk Harper the rest of the season. The Cubs are firing on all cylinders, and Dexter Fowler has been the catalyst for them at the top of the order. A look at other scores around the league features the A’s over the Braves in extras by the count of 5-3 (worth noting the Braves as a team has hit a total of 7 homeruns so far this year…. We’ve played 30 games already so that tells you about the power outage in ATL, and the fact that they’re 1-15 at home… a lost season… for them as they’re on pace to lose 129 games). Speaking of power outages, there certainly isn’t any in Baltimore especially with Manny Machado’s, who slugged his 8^th and 9^th homeruns of the year, driving in 6 as the Orioles hammered the A’s 11-3 to take 2 out of 3 in the series. The White Sox are chugging along as the South Siders finished off an impressive three game sweep of the Twins, proving to the Cubs and the rest of the league that this year could be a brewing of something special for them. Sunday Night Baseball’s featured matchup between the Red Sox and Yankees more than delivered, as Big Papi swatted two homeruns against the Bronx Brombers as the Sox salvaged the finale game of this three game set. The crafty knuckleballer Steven Wright was an out away from a complete game shutout, only to be spoiled by Gardner’s solo shot. Luis Severino continues to struggle here in the early portion of the season, allowing 3 homeruns and watching his ERA jolt to 6.12. Ryan Braun’s solid year continued today as he went 2-for-3 with a homerun to lead the Brewers to a 5-4 win over the Reds at Great American Ball Park. I don’t cover all the scores, just the ones that catch my interest otherwise I’d be writing a book each day. All is well in NY, with the Mets winning and sitting atop the NL East… for now. David Ortiz’s hot start continues in his last season and like the weather in early May, baseball season is just heating up!

- Mike Gee