Losing with the kids is OK, at least as I see it [1] — tonight Amed Rosario [2] hit a home run (awesome) and nearly got thrown out to end the game stretching a double into a triple (yikes don’t do that). And Kevin McGowan [3] escaped ghost status, keeping the roster of Mets ghostsat nine.
On the other hand, Tommy Milone [4]? Was anyone not closely related to Tommy Milone sad to see him leave the team the first time? Who in the world was hankering for his return [5]? Nothing against Milone — he’s a major-league baseball player and I’m the farthest thing from it — but with the Mets retooling for next year I would rather have seen anybody I could at least pretend might be a prospect. No Rumble Pony might need to be added to the 40-man roster in the winter? No Brooklyn Cyclone hurler has impressed the front office with his diligence for learning the game? Tommy Milone was really the best answer?
Down in the minors, Jeurys Familia [6] pitched for Brooklyn, which is good — going into the offseason, the Mets desperately need to reduce the number of question marks about important 2018 arms.
And David Wright [7] DH’ed for St. Lucie. In the grand scheme of things, that’s — sadly — not particularly important. Wright is 34 and battling multiple injuries that have ended careers; my first impression watching video of him from the Florida State League was that he looked worrisomely gaunt. Foreseeing Wright playing an important role on an active Mets roster again demands optimism that’s crossed the line into fabulism. (Though imagine if David would like to be a bench coach, minor-league manager or even … hmm.)
Still, in this crowd I don’t need to write about Wright’s service to the Mets or his decency as a person. His being cut down in the prime of what might have been a Hall of Fame career is one of the great tragedies in franchise history, one we’ve collectively pretended isn’t happening at times, because the unfairness of it all is so piercing.
Wright finishing the season with a handful of pinch-hitting appearances or a start at third wouldn’t tell us anything about 2018. But it would be a nice grace note in a season turned flat and discordant. Not everything has to be about investing in an uncertain future; we’re allowed a quiet commemoration of what’s come before, too.