New York Mets: Amazin irony to kick off summer

It was an interesting Memorial Day for the New York Mets. They were part of several ironic turns on the traditional start of MLB’s summer.

Call it what you like, the will of the Baseball Gods, luck, or fate, baseball is a fickle sport that humbles the greatest players and teams. Whatever name given to the quirkiness of the sport, fans have to admit somewhere in the fabric of it all is a deep appreciation for irony. If you didn’t see the irony in the New York Mets 9-5 loss in Los Angeles Monday, you missed out.

Ironic Twist 1

Any avid New York Mets fan had to be looking forward to the Amazins playing at Chavez Ravine against the Dodgers on Memorial Day Especially since both teams in the thick of the playoff race. With an announced clash of ace starters Jacob deGrom and Clayton Kershaw, a classic pitchers duel was in the offing.

Why not? It was a matchup of former National League Cy Young Winners each known for being stingy with runs while piling up strikeouts. It didn’t happen as the pitching duel was unceremoniously canceled by an outbreak of offense. The pair pitched a total of 11 innings giving up 17 hits, two walks, a pair of homers while striking out only seven. How ironic that neither ace was a huge factor in the outcome.

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Ironic Twist 2

Irony has absolutely nothing to do with the Amazins lack of delivering in the clutch as they left 10 runners on base. However, how many times does a National League team have each slot in the batting order get at least one hit during intra-league play, including the starting pitcher (yes, deGrom upped his average to .273) and lose? It happened to the Mets. As a nice bit of added insult, two players Amed Rosario and Adeiny Hechavarria had three hits each, while Pete Alonso and Todd Frazier had two each.

Ironic Twist 3

The New York Mets benefited from one of the biggest and most iconic fielding errors in baseball history during the 1986 World Series. Bill Buckner was the player who committed the mistake and he passed away earlier in the day. The team Buckner broke in with, Los Angeles, won the game due to some terrific defensive plays.

Remember the part where the Mets stranded 10 runners? They also had three thrown out on the basepaths, two at home, and one at third, which made a huge difference in the outcome. It’s rare to see two runners gunned down by outfielders in the same game, but three by one team is virtually unheard of. It wasn’t as if the Mets made bade running mistakes either as they were playing aggressively. On Monday the Dodgers D was flat out better when it mattered most.

Here’s to you, Billy Buck I’m sure you appreciate the irony.