Well, the Mets’ renaissance lasted for a grand total of one game.
The team had been weirdly aggressive on the bases for a couple of days, with formerly timid runners lighting out for the next base and even a double steal secured. But the good times screeched to a halt in the sixth inning Wednesday night. The game was tied 2-2, with one out and two on: Todd Frazier [1] on first, J. D. Davis on second and Wilson Ramos [2] at the plate. Ramos slapped a single to the right side that seemed destined to load the bases for Amed Rosario [3], who’d doubled in the tying run in the fourth but short-circuited further possible scoring by getting thrown out a third.
(In storytelling, this is called foreshadowing.)
Anyway, Davis hit third and Gary DiSarcina [4] sent him home. Anticipating the play at the plate, SNY switched to the overhead, behind-home-plate view. There was Tyler Flowers [5], sprawled with the ball. But Davis was so far up the line that he wasn’t even visible in the shot.
One of my favorite bitterly funny memories of the horrid Mets clubs of the early 1990s is how Dallas Green [6] would react when the Mets did something even more inept than usual. The cameras would catch Green staring at the field with his mouth hanging open in a cartoon O. You could tell he was furious, but that emotion was stuck in a mental queue behind shocked amazement. In a moment there’d be yelling, or at least a despairing look heavenward, but until Dallas got his brain’s switchboard rearranged he wasn’t capable of doing anything except looking dumbstruck.
I was alone in my living room, but I’m pretty sure the look I directed at my TV was the Full Dallas Green.
Davis eventually trundled into view and tried to jump over Flowers. Incredibly, this didn’t work. Mickey Callaway [7] then challenged the call for some unfathomable Mickey Callaway reason. (The Braves were being mean?) Shockingly, this didn’t work either.
Rosario struck out, in the bottom of the inning Steven Matz [8] imploded under a fusillade of long hits and oversized reactions, and the Mets were beaten [9]. If you want to find the faintest glimmer of a silver lining, Chris Flexen [10] was solid in relief and Stephen Nogosek [11] made his big-league debut and didn’t die, though he also learned not to trust his bullpen colleagues, which seems less good.
Elsewhere, the Nationals swept a doubleheader from the Phils, which means they are now ahead of the Mets in the standings despite being written off as a dumpster fire not so long ago. I see no particular reason to disagree with that assessment, or with what that suggests about the Mets.
Anyway, our lovable fourth-place team has begun the brutal proving-ground part of their season by dropping two of three. And that is the point at which this recapper must take his leave — I’m headed overseas for two and a half weeks, and will freely accept your mutterings about rats and sinking ships as I depart.
Be kind to Greg, as I suspect the run-up to the All-Star Game will test even his love of baseball.