Confident Noah Syndergaard has ‘a lot of fun’

Noah Syndergaard strolled into the news conference at Citi Field wearing a double-breasted, plaid suit, looking like an old-timey gangster, if old-timey gangsters had been giant Vikings. He unlatched the microphone from its stand and held it to his face — most people just bend over, but that’s terrible posture, he said — and proceeded to talk about his day.

“It was a lot of fun,” he said of the Mets’ 9-4 Opening Day win over the Cardinals. “I’m kind of kicking myself in the butt for allowing that Martinez guy to get a little too comfortable, but it won’t happen again.”

“That Martinez guy” is Jose Martinez, who went 3-for-3 against Syndergaard, but that hardly seemed to matter at that moment. What mattered was Syndergaard, the Mets’ fear-inspiring righty, commanding a room the way he commands the mound. The confidence that allows him to pull off that suit — a light gray plaid, accessorized with big silver cuff links — is the same confidence that allows him to say that Martinez won’t be that successful again.

“I felt pretty good out there,” he said. “It was a little chilly through those long innings, staying warm when the offense was putting up runs, kind of difficult to get loose again. The last inning, I got a little stiff, so that’s when I was going to my curveball more. I wasn’t really feeling my fastball based on how my body was feeling in that inning.”

For those wondering, Syndergaard’s start — which he seemed to classify as OK, maybe a little rickety at times — included 10 strikeouts, making him only the second Met to record double-digit strikeouts on Opening Day. The other was Pedro Martinez, with 12 in 2005. (Syndergaard recorded nine on Opening Day last year.) It was his 12th start with at least 10 strikeouts, and he fanned five straight in the second and third innings.

In six innings he allowed four earned runs and six hits, including two home runs — one by Yadier Molina and another by That Martinez Guy. (Martinez did hit .309 with 14 home runs in his first full season last year.)

“He looked really good,” Mickey Callaway said of Syndergaard. “I thought he threw a pretty good pitch to Molina. He got his hands out.

“[Noah] was tremendous. That Martinez kid has his number, but other than that, he was real ly good. He was nice and relaxed. He wasn’t overthrowing at all and just making pitches. Good breaking ball right there at the end, too.”

Syndergaard mixed in his slider to good effect, hit 99.4 mph with his fastball and dipped to the low 80s for his curveball. He retired the side on seven pitches in the first inning. The cold, Syndergaard said a few times, certainly was a factor, and that’s probably why no one seemed all that worried that he gave up four earned runs. He gave up four earned runs or more only four times in 31 starts in his last full season, 2016.

“I’m having a lot of fun,” he said, microphone in hand (posture, remember?). “From the moment I got to Port St. Lucie, the energy and the atmosphere in the clubhouse has been amazing. The acquisitions of Todd Frazier and Adrian Gonzalez and [Anthony] Swarzak and veteran guys really made a lot of leadership to the clubhouse. I think we’re all thankful to have them there.”

No doubt, with what Syndergaard showed on Thursday, the feeling is mutual.

By Laura Albanese

laura.albanese@newsday.com@AlbaneseLaura

Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.