Just Mets

Bartolo Colon was neither the fashionable nor the popular choice among fans to get the start on Opening Day.

The argument wasn’t totally illogical. Colon doesn’t represent the movement the club has undertaken in recent years towards youthful power arms in their rotation. Colon, after all, is merely a placeholder in the eyes of the critics, and the likes of either Matt Harvey or Jacob deGrom were considered more deserving in the wider view.

But consider this for a moment. Colon – who was in his age 41 season in 2014 – won more games and threw more innings than anyone on the pitching staff last year. Aside from Colon starting on Opening Day allowing the Mets to align their chess pieces in the most competitive way possible for the first month of the season, those statistics alone have merit.

Colon is also 5-1 with a 2.62 ERA in the seven times he’s started Opening Day in his career.

“It came down to two guys, deGrom or Bartolo, and I said, ‘You know what, let’s go with Bart — 200 innings, 15 wins. Cripes, he deserves it.’ He was the right man for the job,’’ Terry Collins said after Monday’s game.

Colon did not disappoint, and in some ways exceeded expectations on Opening Day when he allowed only three hits, a run and a walk with eight strikeouts in six innings, earning the win and sending the Mets to their 35th Opening Day victory in franchise history.

So much for all of the complaints out there. Colon wasn’t a bad choice to start the opener after all.

“Bartolo is amazing,’’ Travis d’Arnaud explained to Kevin Kernan in the New York Post. “He’s a great teammate, keeps the clubhouse loose, but most of all he knows how to pitch, and he’s a great influence for all the younger guys, including myself.”

Colon showed some extra life on his four-seam fastball on Monday, but also worked his sinker down in and consistently to the left-handed hitters in particular which helped him keep the ball on the ground for the most part. He mixed in his slider on occasion which helped him get a couple of ground balls, but for the most part it was classic Bart with the four-seamer/sinker combination. He left one up and over the middle to Bryce Harper – who historically has struggled against Colon – and he made him pay, but he put to bed any concerns over his uneven camp.

Colon is a professional, he knows what he’s doing, whether it’s the regular season or spring training. It just goes to show once again the numbers in camp mean next to nothing, nor does the eye test for veterans like this.

He’s not going to be as good as he was on Monday every time out, but he showed yesterday he has the ability to anchor this young pitching staff and be a staple in this rotation.

You can read more about Colon’s outing and the Mets win at MLB.com.