Ok so maybe giving a player the nickname Captain isn’t very appropriate when you're talking about an individual in a team setting, however we at MetsBhoys bestowed this moniker on the bold Kirk when he stepped up and we’re sticking with it ;)
The nickname was more born out of our ignorance as to how to pronounce Nieuwenhuis and a laziness in adding it to our vocabulary when hearing it properly delivered. Being the simple yet stubborn creatures we are it’s too late now for us to change it and there is no doubt I’ll need to look up the spelling of New-in-house every time I need to type it.
Yeah, Captain Kirk works...
The big centre fielder has had a very impressive start to his big league career with the Mets more than ably filling in for Torres since he went on to the DL and it’s a position on the roster I fancy him to keep for a while yet. Torres has started his rehabilitation but it would be a brave manager that switched them out straight away. That being said I’m certain Kirk is fully prepared to make way for Andres when he’s ready to return I’m just not sure it would be the best move for the side. I’m a great believer in if something ain’t broken then don’t try to fix it.
The one thing I would say is we could do with Torres’s speed around the bases and he would give us an extra dimension on that front. From my limited knowledge I’m reliably informed from my big pal Squire in San Francisco that Torres was something like the 3rd fastest sprinter over 100 meters in the whole of MLB in the Giants championship winning year. Speed like that is not to be sniffed at from both an offence and defence point of view (yes I’m in Ireland and refuse to spell offence or defence with an S..suck it up spelling police).
Back to Kirk though and I have to say I have been very impressed with big Californian who at only 24 years old looks mature and level headed way beyond his years. The missed fly ball in last Saturdays game against the Giants could have been a real ‘moment’ for him, but he went on to get the hit that brought home the winning run and that would have been an immediate anti-biotic to any infectious thoughts that had attempted to take root in his psyche.
I want to just move right past Monday’s double header and get to the return of the ra...Reyes. Jose Jose Jose...much has been said about the departure of ‘our’ short stop and there is no point of me going over old ground. I disagreed entirely with the tribute video being broadcast before game one. The Marlins ARE our division rivals, I don’t believe this was the correct time and place for such niceties especially when the fans are so divided on where they stand on the subject. The mixture of cheers and boo’s played testament to that I think.
The series of course ended up with the Marlins being swept out of New York and this fact alone has probably went some way to helping us move on and deal better with our Reyes feelings. I only managed to catch game 3 live in it’s entirety and the strange feeling I had when seeing Jose come to bat for the first time was one of oddity more than anything else. He didn’t even look like the same human being dressed up in that circus outfit and the missing dreads and lack of smile diluted his existence at the plate. Jose Reyes of the New York Mets has gone, who that is representing the fish is a mystery.
The game itself wasn’t the best I’ve managed to catch here in Ireland 2000 miles away from the action but Niese again had another solid start backed up well by the bullpen. There was little to write home about offensively until late in the game but I can tell you now from the minute David was walked in the 9th I knew we were winning that game and the series.
The fact I knew we were going to win with only one man on is testament to how this home grown team have me feeling about the Mets this year. When before I would have expected going out with a whimper there is a cheek about this side that really does have me believing. I don’t know if it’s the fact that we didn’t expect too much from the campaign that has me and them relaxed but whatever it is I’m enjoying every (almost) moment of it.
I mean who would have thought there would be no doubt in my mind Thole would get on base, absolutely no doubt in a player who has also been a massive positive so far. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little worried when Turner went 2 behind in the count but he battled back in what was for me the best at bat of the season so far by any individual. He refused to let Bell overcome him in a 13 pitch duel that would emerge with my fellow red head the victor.
With the bases loaded and the tying run already home the Marlins looked stunned like a fish that’s been reeled in then clubbed on deck. They were then faced with the Captain of the ship as Kirk moved them from stunned to defeated to swept in one mighty swing of the bat.
It sailed into right field, the Mets had won and Captain Kirk’s deckhands swamped him in celebration as somewhere close by a lonely looking sole trudged off, still without a flash of a smile...
11 - 8, bring on the Rockies.
Harper
P.S. the next live MetsBhoys phone-in show will be tomorrow (Saturday) at 3pm ET/8pm GMT. The live link will appear on our Twitter timeline and on our Facebook page, as well as the various message-boards where you know you will find us.
LGM
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