Noah not offended by Eiland criticism
Noah Syndergaard isn’t living up to expectations — his own expectations. After having to grind out his first win in over a month, the big right-hander said he didn’t have an issue with pitching coach Dave Eiland saying he wasn’t sure where the high expectations for Syndergaard were coming from, because he “has yet to do a whole lot at the major league level.
“Him and I spoke about it today. If he didn’t mentioned it, I wouldn’t have seen it, kind of gone Zero Dark Thirty …. for a little bit so I can focus on baseball and get my head right, but we discussed it,” Syndergaard said. “There’s nothing to it really. His words were a little misconstrued. The expectations I put on myself, I haven’t been meeting so, there’s really nothing else to it.”
Eiland explained his remarks before Syndergaard went out and held the Blue Jays to two runs on five hits. He walked two and struck out seven. After striking out the side in the first, Syndergaard was scrambling to find himself.
“There were some glimpses of the old Noah coming out in the first… after that I had to grind it out,” Syndergaard said.
This season, Syndergaard is being challenged by hitters more than he has in the past. Tuesday night, Syndergaard (3-1) needed 103 pitches and a double play in the fifth so he could qualify for his first win in a month.
“Noah and I have talked. We have had a lot of conversation, not just about my quotes. I was defending him actually,” Eiland said. “If he doesn’t go seven with one run or less, everybody is criticizing him, because he is supposed to be dominant. He’s human.”
Syndergaard earned his All-Star nod in 2016 and has the only World Series win among the Mets’ highlytouted rotation. Those tastes of success, and his love of social media, have led to an oversized persona that the Mets’ marketing department has been quick to cash in on.
But, he has basically put two solid years together since coming up in 2015.
“He hasn’t pitched long enough. He’s yet to do a whole lot. I didn’t say he hasn’t done anything. I said he hasn’t done a whole lot. Why? Because he hasn’t been here that long,” Eiland said. “He’s 25 years old.”
That said, Eiland gave Syndergaard the best compliment he could right now.
“He has kept us in every game, given us a chance to win every game,” Eiland said.
PITCHING OUT OF ORDER
The Mets are switching their rotation again this weekend. Jacob deGrom, who got through just one inning on Sunday, will start on Friday night. Steven Matz, who pitched two innings of a simulated game on Tuesday afternoon, will start on Saturday. Syndergaard will start Sunday.
The simulated game was organized to try to get lefty Jason Vargas back on track.
The Mets skipped his start, which would have been Tuesday, after three disastrous starts. Vargas threw four simulated innings and approximately 80 pitches.
“Mainly I was just getting reps, trying to make better pitches in certain situations, not pitching for seven days, with the rainout, it’s really important keep getting those reps and put ourselves in a position to succeed when we get back out there,” Vargas said.
Vargas added that he expects to make his next start Tuesday.
WRIGHT’S BACK
David Wright returned to Citi Field for the first time as the father of two. The Mets captain said his newborn, born on Friday, was doing well.
As for himself, he said he is feeling good and expects to meet with doctors in the next few weeks. He is still trying to ramp back up to baseball activities. … The Mets put Jerry Blevins on paternity leave and recalled lefthander Buddy Baumann from Triple-A. They also recalled RHP Jacob Rhame and optioned RHP Corey Oswalt. Dominic Smith was optioned to Las Vegas and Jay Bruce was returned from paternity leave.