NEW YORK (AP) — Noah Syndergaard and the New York Mets ended this disappointing season the same way they want to start the next one.Powered
by dominant pitching.Syndergaard threw his first major league shutout and the
Mets wrapped up a frustrating 2018 campaign Sunday with their second consecutive
1-0 victory over the Miami Marlins.“I told the bullpen before the game that they
could take the day off. True story
Tony Phillips Jersey ,” Syndergaard said. “It’s a great feeling.”Todd Frazier hit an RBI double for the Mets, who finished fourth in the NL East at
77-85 under rookie manager Mickey Callaway — a seven-win improvement over last
year. After beginning the season with playoff aspirations, they jumped out to an
11-1 start before going 5-21 in June as injuries once again took a heavy
toll.New York rebounded a bit to win 33 of its last 55 games, but by then it was
way too late.“I feel like we played some really good baseball,” Syndergaard
said.Promising rookie Sandy Alcantara (2-3) struck out a career-high 10 over
seven innings in his sixth major league start for the Marlins — three against
the Mets.“I thought he was more aggressive,” manager Don Mattingly said.
“There’s nothing monumental that happened today other than this guy has a chance
to be a really good pitcher, and consistency is going to be the key.”After
trading Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich, Marcell Ozuna and Dee Gordon during
an offseason payroll purge, the Marlins ended up with the worst record in the
National League at 63-98 in Derek Jeter’s first year as chief executive officer.
Miami went scoreless over the final 24 innings.“Last two days, kind of
indicative. We go (22) innings and only give up two runs and we don’t win either
game,” Mattingly said.Jeter signaled this month that Mattingly is expected back
next year. Looking to have some fun at the finish line, he appointed All-Star
catcher J.T. Realmuto to pilot the team Sunday.“It was fun. I enjoyed it, for
sure,” Realmuto said. “It was actually a fairly easy game to manage because
Sandy did a great job, obviously, so there weren’t many moves on our
part.”Syndergaard (13-4) allowed five hits and fanned six in a fast finale that
took just 2 hours, 10 minutes. He walked none and threw 101 pitches for his
second career complete game. The other one came on Sept. 2 in San Francisco, and
the big right-hander completed the season by tossing a career-best 15 straight
scoreless innings while pitching with a sinus infection.“He kind of pitched at
90 percent, 95 percent. It’s pretty good when you throw 95 (mph) at 95 percent,”
Callaway said. “But I think he learned a little bit of a lesson that sometimes a
tad less is more.”Alcantara struck out five straight before Jeff McNeil opened
the fourth with a single for New York’s first hit. McNeil scored from first when
left fielder Isaac Galloway misplayed Frazier’s hard-hit double.LAST HURRAHA day
after David Wright’s emotional goodbye at Citi Field, the Mets gave Jose Reyes
another ceremonial start at shortstop. The 35-year-old Reyes, who batted .189 in
a bench role this season, was lifted after grounding out leading off the bottom
of the first. He hugged teammates in the dugout and received a warm ovation
while coming out for a curtain call for the crowd of 28
http://www.athleticsfanproshop.com/authentic-walt-weiss-jersey ,346.“I just thought he deserved to be on the field one more time,” Callaway said.Reyes,
a four-time All-Star, doesn’t expect to be back with the Mets next season and
isn’t sure about his major league future.Wright didn’t play but was given a few
more ovations.HOW’D THAT HAPPEN?
