NOAH’S GAME OF THROWNES
Noah Syndergaard said when he suffered a partially torn right lat earlier this season, “It felt like somebody had stabbed me in the armpit.”
Given the Mets’ right-hander made an appearance in Sunday’s episode of “Game of Thrones” — not to mention the team’s ability to find new ways to see its players head to the disabled list — perhaps the scenario wasn’t that farfetched.
But since that fateful outing against the Nationals, almost nothing has gone right for the Mets.
And while their season is lost, the 24-year-old said Monday he expects to be pitching for the Mets by early September — although he added the team hasn’t given him a time frame for his return.
“My arm’s never felt better,” Syndergaard said. “And my body feels great.”
Syndergaard last pitched on April 30, when he left after just 1 ¹/3 innings — and five runs — in Washington with the injury.
That came just three days after the former All-Star had been scratched against the Braves with right biceps tendinitis — and then refusing to take an MRI exam.
The Mets have insisted there was no correlation between the two injuries.
Still, instead of a typical day off in the middle of a long season, Monday was another one that saw Syndergaard on the DL. He spent this one at the Citi Noah Baseball ProCamp at Sportika in Manalapan.
Syndergaard’s 2017 has been as brutal as the Mets’ season.
After being named an All-Star a year ago, he has made just five starts this season.
And the torn lat, which was supposed to keep him out 2-3 months, has already taken longer than that to heal.
“I’m doing a lot more mobility stuff,” Syndergaard said of the rehab protocol he’s been doing in Queens and Port St. Lucie, Fla. “Right now, my hips aren’t the loosest, so that’s something I’m working on.”
Whenever Syndergaard returns, he will join a team in shambles that appears to be playing out the string.
“It’s definitely something we weren’t expecting,” Syndergaard said of the Mets’ disappointing season. “But we’re trying our best to stay positive and go out there and play meaningful ballgames.”
Heading into Tuesday’s game against the Rangers at Citi Field, the Mets have lost four straight and seven of eight, leaving them 11 games under .500 — a low they hadn’t reached since 2014.
The injury-ravaged rotation has been a significant factor in the Mets’ struggles, with only Jacob de- Grom coming close to reaching expectations.
Syndergaard has been joined by Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler and Steven Matz on the DL.
“This is the first time I’ve been injured, so I’m itching to get back out there,” Syndergaard said. “Whether it’s September and we’re in it or not, I want to get out there and compete because I’m just getting bored.”
And he feels there’s value in getting back on the mound.
“If I wasn’t to pitch this year, I’d go 9-10 months without competing in a meaningful game,” he said. “I don’t want that much time to go by. ... I feel most people who do that have a little bit of a hangover [when they come back] since they get rusty.”
Syndergaard has tried to stay busy in other areas, such as his appearance on “Game of Thrones.” He got connected to the producers of the show through his agents at CAA, since his warm-up song is the theme to the show and he named his gloves after two of its main characters — Jon Snow and Tyrion Lannister.
In Sunday’s episode, Syndergaard played a soldier who hurls a spear.
“I thought at one point I was gonna be a Knight of the Night’s Watch, but I’ll be a Lannister and I’ll get killed by a dragon,” Syndergaard said.
“I couldn’t pass it up,” Syndergaard said of the opportunity to make a brief appearance. “I would love to do it again. It was awesome. I wish it would have been a bit longer.”
The same could be said of what’s been his season.