- Thread starter
- #1
Tai Chi≈Surfing
Phenom~Vet~HOFer
- 104,895
- 21,139
- 1,033
- Joined
- Jul 2, 2013
- Hoopla Cash
- $ 147,849.53
NEW YORK -- Taylor Teagarden’s pregame emphasis before his Mets debut centered on preparing to catch Daisuke Matsuzaka. That ended up working fine, with Matsuzaka limiting the Milwaukee Brewers to one run in six innings.
Teagarden
The 30-year-old Teagarden also provided an important blast at the plate, opening a five-run lead in the sixth with a grand slam against Marco Estrada en route to the Mets’ 6-2 win against the Brewers at Citi Field.
Teagarden became the second Mets player ever with a grand slam in his debut with the club, joining Collin Cowgill on Opening Day 2013.
“The thing I was really preparing for is just catching Daisuke more than anything. I really hadn’t caught a full outing of his, even dating back to spring training,” Teagarden said. “So I was really trying to focus on getting on the same page with him. Getting a big knock there in the sixth, that was just icing on the cake.”
Teagarden subsequently was briefed by teammates on the team’s season-long bases-loaded woes. Although the Mets now have three slams this season, they are hitting only .172 (11-for-64) with the bases loaded, even after Teagarden’s shot.
“A couple of guys told me,” Teagarden said. “I don’t know the exact stat, but if I can help get the monkey off the back, whatever it takes.”
As for the fastball from Estrada, Teagarden added: “He had kind of pitched me different every at-bat. The first at-bat was a lot of changeups. The second at-bat he threw his curveball a few times. I think he was trying to sneak a fastball by me -- something he hadn’t really done yet. It just caught a little bit of the plate. I was trying to shorten up and get a base hit. It was just a little bit elevated for me to drive it out to right field.”
Let's face it, if this team is .500 at the end of the year it's a major success. That's not going to happen, the fans need something to appease them. I think he proably makes it to the end of the year and then gets canned.