WHEEL HOUSE: Zack Wheeler fires one of his 114 pitches as he teamed with catcher Travis d’Arnaud (inset) for the first time in the big leagues to lead the Mets to a 5-3 win over the Braves last night at Citi Field. (
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It is the battery of the future, Zack Wheeler on the mound and Travis d’Arnaud behind the plate. Except for the Mets, it was the battery last night.
There is no time like the present.
That’s especially so when the 23-year-old right-hander and the 24-year-old catcher present as they did in the 5-3 victory over the runaway train Braves in which Wheeler dominated through most of his 6 2/3 innings, and d’Arnaud collected the first hit of his big-league career in his fourth game and Citi Field debut.
“Indescribable,” is the way d’Arnaud, well, described the feeling of lacing an eighth-inning double to left-center with his dad, Lance, in the stands to share in the moment. “I’m so happy for him. … I’m going to give the ball to him.”
The promise is of better days ahead for this franchise that is enduring its fifth straight losing season. But there is gain with the pain that is accompanying the laying of building blocks, including those prominent ones called Wheeler, d’Arnaud and Matt Harvey.
The Mets don’t really know yet beyond the projections of stardom for d’Arnaud, who was promoted from Triple-A Las Vegas on Saturday, when veteran incumbent catcher John Buck left the club on paternity leave, and how could they?
But they knew enough to keep d’Arnaud, even as Buck returned to the club last night following the birth of his third child. They also know the only value in keeping him is to give the young man an accelerated apprenticeship so they can learn as much about him and his readiness to be a 2014 lineup staple as he can learn about their pitching staff and the league.
Four games in, d’Arnaud is living up to the billing he carried to the organization after being acquired in the offseason blockbuster trade with the Blue Jays in which he, Buck and premier pitching prospect Noah Syndergaard were acquired for a package featuring R.A. Dickey.
No one ever has doubted his ability at the plate, but he has been impressive as well behind the plate — a potential problem area — through this small sample size.
“Everyone who has ever seen this guy has said if there’s one thing he’s going to do, it’s hit,” manager Terry Collins said. “Now that he knows he’s going to be here, he’s relaxing and receiving the ball better.”
Wheeler was in complete command until he tired and loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh, departing after 114 pitches. Wheeler, who worked with d’Arnaud in Las Vegas before the catcher suffered a foot fracture in mid-April that sidelined him for approximately three months, had thrown first-pitch strikes to 19 of the 23 batters he faced through six innings.
“We stuck with the plan,” d’Arnaud said. “I tried to read the batters’ swings and make adjustments from there.”
The plan is to have d’Arnaud as the No. 1 guy the rest of the way. That became easier for everyone when the kid rapped a Luis Ayala slider into left-center with two down in the eighth after going 0-for-his-first 10 with four strikeouts, including starting last night 0-for-3 with a pair of called Ks.
“It was a great feeling to finally get it out of the way,” d’Arnaud said. “It was definitely weighing on me a little bit.”
The Mets have been in operation for 52 seasons. There is a rich heritage on the mound, but the lineage of position players to celebrate is relatively thin. Fact is, not a single one of the 452 of them (other than Gil Hodges, memorialized for his work as a manager) has had his number retired.
But the pedigree behind the plate might be best of all, where Jerry Grote preceded Gary Carter, who preceded Mike Piazza. What, center field, with Tommie Agee, Lee Mazzilli, Mookie Wilson/Lenny Dykstra and Carlos Beltran? OK, maybe.
Still, if d’Arnaud has the right stuff, the argument will tilt and d’Arnaud will take his place in Mets history. That, at least, is the plan. The team, though, isn’t content simply waiting for the future.
After all, there is no time like the present.