May 12th, 2016 at 6:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka Baseball is a funny game. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, something else happens that leaves you speechless.
But baseball is also a cruel game. Sometimes things happen that shouldn’t or, in your wildest dreams, couldn’t possibly happen, but they do – such as a guy who hasn’t had a hit all season who hits not one but two home runs and then beats you with 100-MPH fastballs.
Yes, baseball is both funny and cruel, but when things like this happen, it only reaffirms that it truly is the greatest game on earth and that sometimes you just have to tip your hat to the other guy.
On Wednesday night that other guy was New York Mets right-hander Noah Syndergaard, who singlehandedly – literally – beat the Dodgers when he hit a solo home run in the third inning and then a backbreaking three-run home run in the fifth inning that would account for all four of the Mets runs to beat the Dodgers by a score of 4-3. He would also allow only two runs – both on solo home runs – on eight hits while walking one and striking out six in his eight innings pitched.
“This is a dream,” Syndergaard told reporters after the game. “It was an awesome experience.”
Of course, if you’re the guy who gave up both of those home runs to the opposing pitcher, as was Dodgers right-hander Kenta Maeda, “awesome” definitely isn’t the word you would use to describe it.
“Even though I was able to get to two strikes [on Syndergaard in his second at-bat], I had to finish him off, and I wasn’t able to do that,” Maeda said through a translator. “It was a mistake, I wasn’t able to execute well.”
Indeed; especially with runners on first and second and no outs, and after two failed attempts at a sacrifice bunt.
“It’s one of those where [Syndergaard] couldn’t execute [the bunt], so the manager says, ‘OK, just try to hit, you already homered once,'” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts of Syndergaard. “Pitcher hits a breaking ball – backdoor, down and away – out of the ballpark. You probably don’t see that again all year. I was in disbelief. Outside of those two pitches to Syndergaard, it’s a 2-0 win.”
But Syndergaard did and the Dodgers didn’t.
Unfortunately, both Corey Seager’s and Yasmani Grandal’s home runs were solo shots on Wednesday night.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)
Sometimes you just have to tip your hat to the other guy.
Hats off to you, Noah Syndergaard.
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Right on. It’s a wonderful game and no matter how long we have watched it there is always something happening we have never seen before.
And yes we must tip our hat to opponents who do amazing things. What else is there to do?
Wonder if the Blue Jays regret that trade sending Syndergaard to the Mets basically for Dickey?
Spot on! Hmmm, who was the Jays GM who engineered the Syndergaard and d’Arnaud trade for Dickey? Oh yes, Anthopoulos.
As we know the Mets pitching is probably the best in MLB, their pitchers’ offense is nothing to shake a stick at either. Yes, it’s a wonderful game, even when it happens against us.