Max Visits Binghamton

After spending more than a month on the Injured List, Max Scherzer took the mound Tuesday night in Binghamton. Before the game, I got to watch the intense preparation, mental and physical, he goes through as he gets ready for his first pitch. Sitting in the dugout, he is almost trance-like, focusing on the task ahead.
A Mirabito Stadium record of just under 7500 was on hand as the future Hall of Famer made his first rehab start against the Double-A Reading Fightin' Phils.

Scherzer started off strong... striking out the side in the 1st inning, sandwiched around a two-out walk. He wasn't just in control -- he got several Reading batters to miss by a bunch. Notice, below, where Phillies top prospect Logan O'Hoppe's bat is compared to the ball.
Max was also pitching to a familiar target. 
Mets catcher James McCann, recovering from hand surgery, caught Scherzer and also looked ready to return to Flushing.
He played the entire game, going 1-for-4 with a walk and a booming 1st inning double.
Max is amazingly consistent with his motion and delivery. Watching him inning after inning, and snapping away with my Canon, I kept getting the same image: the same expression, the same intensity, hands, feet, everything the same. It took moving to behind home plate and shooting from a different angle to get an image that stood out a bit.

On to the top of the 4th inning... Scherzer, as intense as when the game began, is closing in on his 65-pitch limit.

The last Reading batter he faced was power-hitting prospect Jhalyn Ortiz, who smoked a home run to left on Scherzer's 65th (and final) pitch.

Whether or not Ortiz ever makes the majors, he will always be able to say with pride, "I hit a home run off Max Scherzer, a Hall of Famer." 
That ended Max's first game since mid-May.
After manager Reid Brignac takes the ball, Max leaves to a standing ovation... It was a night when everything seemed to be working in Binghamton's favor -- great early summer weather, a big, excited crowd; four productive innings by the Mets co-ace; and most important, no reports or tightness or discomfort when he met with media members after his work was over.
For Central New York fans, one-night-only visit by a living legend, and maybe a chance to bring home some Max merch.








 

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