NEW YORK _ When the pageantry yielded to competition _ a real, actual baseball game _ and the cold drizzle ceased, the Mets showed off what Mickey Callaway contends is his team's greatest strength: a deep, relentless lineup.
Five Mets had multiple hits, Yoenis Cespedes drove in three runs and Brandon Nimmo and Adrian Gonzalez reached base four times each as the Mets beat the Cardinals, 9-4, on Opening Day at Citi Field, Callaway's managerial debut.
The positive offensive developments were many. Every starting position player reached base. All except Asdrubal Cabrera had at least one hit.
Nimmo, fresh off a hot spring, singled twice, walked and was hit by a pitch. Gonzalez, fresh off a cold spring, doubled, singled and walked twice. Kevin Plawecki (two walks), who like Nimmo won a spot in the lineup with his preseason performance, and Amed Rosario (two RBIs) each had a pair of knocks from the bottom-third of the lineup.
St. Louis right-hander Carlos Martinez aided that strong showing with a poor outing. He struggled with his command (six walks, 54 strikes in 90 pitches) and didn't make it through the fifth.
The game seesawed _ Mets led, Cardinals led, Mets led, tie game _ until the fifth, when the Mets poured on five runs.
Gonzalez chased Martinez (41/3 innings, five runs) with a double into the right-field corner. Three straight singles to left _ from Rosario, Nimmo and Cespedes _ brought in the other three runs.
Right-hander Noah Syndergaard, the first Mets pitcher to start consecutive season openers since Johan Santana (2008-10), had a quirky line: six innings, six hits, four runs, no walks, 10 strikeouts. That's good for an only-this-early combo of a 1.00 WHIP and 6.00 ERA, plus a strikeout-to-walk ratio of infinity.
