Remembering Mets Opening Days (2019) Jacob deGrom Starts His Second Straight Cy Young Season & Pete Alonso's MLB Debut

 The 2019 Mets were coming off a fourth-place finish (77-85) in manager Mickey Callaway's second season as skipper. The Mets entered the season with the NL Cy Young Award winner, Jecob deGrom.

deGrom had led the NL in ERA (1.70) going 10-9 on a team that didn't supply him much offense. He struck out 269 batters (2nd in the NL) in 217 innings.

This season the Mets brought up Pete Alonso who would win the Rookie of the Year Award, break the Rookie HR record hitting 56 HRs& driving in 120 RBIs becoming the new star of the team. In today's Opening Day game Pete made his MLB debut.

In the off season the Mets added All Star closer Edwin Diaz from Seattle & Robinson Cano for second base. 

Diaz had led the AL in saves (57) & appearances (65) posting a 1.96 ERA striking out 124 batters in just 73.1 innings. Cano was coming off a year where he was suspended for 80 games for violating MLB's drug policy. He had batted .303 with 10 HRs in 80 games.

The Mets also added J.D. Davis from Houston for the outfield, he would hit 22 HRs & bat .307 in first Mets season. They also brought in veteran catcher Wilson Ramos & pitcher Justin Wilson.

The Mets opened up the season in Washington D.C. facing Dave Martinez's Nationals in the Nation's Capital as 42,263 fans came out to Nationals Park. The Nat's had finished second at 82-80 the previous year.

In 2019 The Nat's would win 93 games finishing second earning a wild card spot. They would defeat the Brewers in the NLWC Game, the Dodgers in the NLDS & the Cardinals in the NLCS. In the World Series they defeated the Astros in seven games.

On this Opening Day the current reigning Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom who would win his second Cy Young this season took Max Scherzer who had won the two previous Cy Youngs before deGrom. Max would win three Cy Young Awards in his career.

Thursday March 28th, 2019: In the top of the 1st inning, Scherzer started out by striking out Branndon Nimmo. 

Then in his first career at bat Pete Alonso also struck out. Then one of the newest Mets, Robinson Cano homered in his Mets debut giving the Mets an early lead.  

In the bottom of the 1st, Trea Turner singled & stole second with two outs. deGrom then walked Juan Soto. Next Ryan Zimmerman lined out to Jeff McNeil at third base, ending the inning.

In the bottom of the 2nd, deGrom struck out the side. In the 3rd, the Nat's threatened when Victor Robles doubled & Adam Eaton singled. 

deGrom struck out Trea Turner & Anthony Rendon grounded to third base. Jeff McNeil fielded the ball & got the Adam Eaton out at second. Victor Robles tried to score but was thrown out in a run down at home plate.

In the 4th inning, deGrom struck out two batters then struck out the side in the 5th inning. Trea Turner led off the 6th inning with a base hit then stole second & third base. deGrom struck out Juan Soto & got Ryan Zimmerman to fly out to right field.

Jacob deGrom Trivia: deGrom opened up the season with six shutout innings, allowing five hits with a walk. Jacob struck out ten batters. He would have nine games on the season with double digits in strike outs, with a high of 14 in his next start. In 2019 he led the league in strike outs (255) for the second straight year. 

He won his second straight Cy Young Award, winning just 11 games (11-8) also leading the league in WAR (7.2) & posting the NL's second-best ERA at 2.43.

After a 4-7 start in the first half, from July 14th to the end of the season he went 7-1 with 1.44 ERA, striking out 117 batters in 94 innings with five double digit K gams & opponents' batting just .179against him. 

In the bottom of the 7th Seth Lugo came on & struck out the side.

After giving up a run in the 1st, Max Scherzer struck out ten more Mets, not allowing a hit into the 8th inning. He did walk two batters, but no one got past second base.

In the top of the 8th, with one out, pinch hitter Dominic Smith walked. Scherzer struck out Brandon Nimmo then was relieved for Justin Miller. 

First Career Hit: Pete Alonso stepped in & collected his first career hit as he singled into center field putting two men on. 

Matt Grace came in to pitch & Robinson Cano lined a base hit to left field scoring Smith for a 2-0 Met lead.

Jeurys Familia pitched a scoreless 8th & Edwin Diaz came on collecting his first Mets save.

Robinson Cano Trivia: Cano's first half of the season was a disaster although he did better in the second half, he finished up batting .256 with 13 HRs & 39 RBIs. 

After being suspended in 2018 he obviously didn't learn his lesson as he violated the PED rules again & was suspended for all of 2021. 

In 2022 as the Mets team was much improved, Cano was released in May.

Edwin Diaz Trivia: Diaz started out the year with eight saves in April posting an 0.84 ERA. After that he struggled in his first year in New York, going 2-7 with a 5.59 ERA, he did record 26 saves but blew five saves & had two blown save losses. 

The 2019 Mets were 47-55 in late August then went on a seven-game win streak turning things around. They went on an exciting suer run for a wild card going 32-20 the rest of the way but missed out on a playoff berth. They finished nine games better than they did the previous year, finishing with an 86-76 record in third place.