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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (4/3/16)-- It’s Opening Day!
The New York Mets and Kansas City Royals kick off the season on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball at 8:37 p.m. ET at Kauffman Stadium.
Matt Harvey opposes right-hander Edinson Volquez in a rematch of Games 1 and 5 of the World Series.
The Royals will raise their championship banner before the opener and pass out their rings before Game 2 on Tuesday.
The Mets are 35-19 in franchise history on Opening Day. And that’s despite losing the first eight openers in franchise history. Yes, they went for 0-for-the-1960s.
Harvey’s last time in a meaningful game ended in sour fashion. Working on a shutout, he successfully lobbied manager Terry Collins to return for the ninth inning on Nov. 1 at Citi Field. Let’s just say things did not end well for Harvey and the Mets.
Including the postseason, Harvey logged 216 innings in 2015. That was the most ever by a pitcher in his first season back from Tommy John surgery.
He looked strong early in camp in Port St. Lucie, Florida, with his slider seemingly rediscovered, and with late giddy-up on his fastball. However, Harvey limps into the regular season. He was beat up in each of his final three spring training outings, allowing 15 runs over 8 1/3 innings. That included one start against the St. Louis Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate that ended badly.
Harvey recently dealt with a blood clot in his bladder. He suggested the medical issue was the result of an infection that emanated from holding his urine in too long. The tabloid treatment of Harvey’s revelation led the Dark Knight to boycott the media for the rest of that last week of spring training.
Sunday’s outing will mark Harvey’s first career Opening Day start. The Mets, in fact, have had a different Opening Day starter for each of the past six seasons -- Harvey (2016), Bartolo Colon (2015), Dillon Gee (2014),Jonathon Niese (2013), Johan Santana (2012) and Mike Pelfrey (2011).
Gee is now a member of the Royals’ bullpen.
Neil Walker and Asdrubal Cabrera will make their Mets debuts at Kauffman Stadium as the new middle-infield combo.
Collins has suggested that Juan Lagares should be in center field in the opener, which may place Yoenis Cespedes in left field and Michael Confortoas the designated hitter in the American League ballpark.
Read the Mets-Royals series preview here.
SATURDAY’S NEWS REPORTS:
The New York Mets and Kansas City Royals kick off the season on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball at 8:37 p.m. ET at Kauffman Stadium.
Matt Harvey opposes right-hander Edinson Volquez in a rematch of Games 1 and 5 of the World Series.
The Royals will raise their championship banner before the opener and pass out their rings before Game 2 on Tuesday.
The Mets are 35-19 in franchise history on Opening Day. And that’s despite losing the first eight openers in franchise history. Yes, they went for 0-for-the-1960s.
Harvey’s last time in a meaningful game ended in sour fashion. Working on a shutout, he successfully lobbied manager Terry Collins to return for the ninth inning on Nov. 1 at Citi Field. Let’s just say things did not end well for Harvey and the Mets.
Including the postseason, Harvey logged 216 innings in 2015. That was the most ever by a pitcher in his first season back from Tommy John surgery.
He looked strong early in camp in Port St. Lucie, Florida, with his slider seemingly rediscovered, and with late giddy-up on his fastball. However, Harvey limps into the regular season. He was beat up in each of his final three spring training outings, allowing 15 runs over 8 1/3 innings. That included one start against the St. Louis Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate that ended badly.
Harvey recently dealt with a blood clot in his bladder. He suggested the medical issue was the result of an infection that emanated from holding his urine in too long. The tabloid treatment of Harvey’s revelation led the Dark Knight to boycott the media for the rest of that last week of spring training.
Sunday’s outing will mark Harvey’s first career Opening Day start. The Mets, in fact, have had a different Opening Day starter for each of the past six seasons -- Harvey (2016), Bartolo Colon (2015), Dillon Gee (2014),Jonathon Niese (2013), Johan Santana (2012) and Mike Pelfrey (2011).
Gee is now a member of the Royals’ bullpen.
Neil Walker and Asdrubal Cabrera will make their Mets debuts at Kauffman Stadium as the new middle-infield combo.
Collins has suggested that Juan Lagares should be in center field in the opener, which may place Yoenis Cespedes in left field and Michael Confortoas the designated hitter in the American League ballpark.
Read the Mets-Royals series preview here.
SATURDAY’S NEWS REPORTS:
- Lucas Duda was not thrilled by comments from Royals coach Rusty Kuntz, which Duda read shortly after his ill-fated throw to the plate in the ninth inning of Game 5. Duda tells Marc Carig in Newsday about Kuntz’s comments: “He said, ‘We’ve got this guy as a DH.’ And, again, that’s an opinion. But it’s somebody to me that really doesn’t matter. How many big-league games has that guy played in? … That opinion has no substance. It’s a guy talking that coaches third base.” Duda added, regarding Eric Hosmer’s decision to race home as the tying run: “Was it a good baserunning play? I don’t think it was. I threw the ball away and then that play looks good.”
- Columnist Joel Sherman in the Post notes that the Mets have a tough task in 2016 -- repeating as NL champs. “Nothing is given to you,” David Wright, who had to wait nine years to return to the playoffs after 2006, tells Sherman. “We have a bull’s-eye on us now.”
- Columnist David Lennon in Newsday writes that the Mets are returning to “the scene of the crime” at Kauffman Stadium.
- Columnist John Harper in the Daily News says the Mets have the best rotation in the majors. Harper goes on to list other stellar rotations in baseball history, including the 1971 Baltimore Orioles, who had four 20-game winners (Mike Cuellar, Pat Dobson, Jim Palmer and Dave McNally).
- Harper in the Daily News also features Cespedes, calling him an “international man of mystery.”
- Maria Guardado at NJ.com breaks down the Mets’ strengths and weaknesses.
- Anthony DiComo at MLB.com and Carig in Newsday preview Harvey’s start (minus fresh Harvey quotes).
- Read a Mets season-preview article in the Post.
- Read Wright’s comments on a rematch with the Royals at NJ.com.
- Walker feels at home with the Mets, Mike Puma writes in the Post.
- From the bloggers … Mets Report asks 20 questions about the club.
