Using a bookmark is usually a very effective method of keeping your place while reading. No “I was reading this really interesting book, but I seem to have lost my place, whatever will I do?” laments are necessary when you properly employ a bookmark. If you don’t insist on something fancy with a tassel, access to a bookmark requires no additional purchases. Nearly any thin household item that fits decisively but unobtrusively between pages should do the trick. For example, if you’re not planning on ginning up a game of rummy anytime soon, you can pick a card, any card, from a handy deck and, presto, you’ve got a bookmark!
Warning, though: The aces in your deck don’t automatically help you keep your place any better than anything else you use.
For the last two nights, Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer pitched well enough to propel their team to victory. At the same juncture, they didn’t pitch well enough to unquestionably tilt the hand they held in their team’s favor. We know they’re aces their entire careers. On consecutive nights, they could’ve been mistaken for a pair of threes. Had they been available, you could have slotted, I don’t know, Mike Pelfrey and Dillon Gee in their stead and gotten roughly the same results.
Thing is, when you unseal your deck, deGrom and Scherzer aren’t supposed to look like Pelfrey and Gee or any perfectly decent pitchers from whom you’d be satisfied by three or four runs given up in five or six innings. They’re aces. Aces oughta be most adept at holding your place when your place is first and your opponent has designs on it.
Aces like they oughta be aren’t always what you wind up dealing.
One night after deGrom (6 IP, 3 ER, all on Brave home runs in a 5-2 loss) couldn’t do quite enough to help the Mets keep first place to themselves, Scherzer (5.2 IP, 4 ER, three on Brave home runs in a 4-2 loss) couldn’t do quite enough to allow the Mets to maintain any of it. In the aftermath of deGrom and Scherzer being Pelfrey and Gee — and the players who batted on their behalf bringing early-2010s energy to the table — the Mets have indeed lost their place. The heretofore first-place Mets are presently the second-place Mets.
Not lethal at this very late stage of the season. Not ideal, either, but hardly the end of relevant competitive pursuits. The Mets will play the Braves one more time, and the opportunity remains to:
a) win that meeting tonight;
b) in the process of winning tonight, tie for first place once more;
c) in the process of winning tonight and tying for first place once more, claim the division tiebreaker over Atlanta, thanks to what would be a 10-9 season series advantage;
d) defeat last-place Washington as often over the succeeding three dates as the Braves defeat the Marlins (doing it, not just saying it);
e) finish in first place;
f) exhale;
g) proceed to the Division Series without installing along their potential championship path an additional obstacle called the Wild Card Series, an exercise in which losing two games out of three would be lethal, thus you might as well avoid the extra steps and possible pitfalls inherent in that unforeseen detour if you can.
Should all of those absolutely conceivable events unfold, order up a clinching pizza and pour yourself a nice glass of bubbly. You’ve won the NL East. That’s something to toast and a fitting reward for a long season that, until very recently, has been extremely worthy of celebrating.
And if it doesn’t? If the second-place Mets remain the second-place Mets and go to the playoffs as the top-seeded Wild Card and commence postseason activity several days sooner than desired? Grab a slice and a sip anyway, for the answer lies within the question. The Mets will be in the playoffs. They’ll have to deal with a best-of-three against a quality team capable of knocking them off and out — at the moment, San Diego — and if that’s the draw of the cards between tonight and Wednesday evening, well, the Mets will be ensconced within a playoff structure that has been generously widened to allow for losing first place, provided you haven’t dropped it with a resounding thud and won sufficiently before a little too much ill-timed losing set in.
That’s not just the postseason the Mets are going to regardless of what happens in one more game at Atlanta and three versus Washington at Citi Field. That’s a whole new season, or a series of highly condensed ones. Close to a hundred wins and (hopefully) counting earns you at least that much these days: a chance to extend your winning ways or a chance to freshen up from your visit to the doldrums. Twelve teams out of thirty will be in the playoffs. Eighteen teams won’t. Even if they don’t shake off this sudden fascination with landing in second place, the Mets belong to the party of the first part.
Party like it’s 1999, like it could be 1969. It surely beats moping like it’s 1979.
Having more than two aces can help you find your place again.
What card do the Mets have up their sleeves to optimize the remainder of their journey? I do believe I see another ace. The name “Chris Bassitt” doesn’t shimmer from a distance the way “Jacob deGrom” and “Max Scherzer” do when they top the GAME TONITE marquee, but if the pitching half of my season came down to just one Met starter in 2022, and I pulled a Bassitt from the deck, I wouldn’t have the slightest inclination to throw it back. I do believe Chris has been the stealth ace of this team from April through September. Righty rather than lefty, I nonetheless get a strong Bobby Ojeda vibe from him. The Mets went 4-0 in postseason games started by Bobby O in 1986. Twice he was masterful. Twice he mastered the challenge of not letting a Game Six get away when it very well could have slipped into oblivion. Gooden, Darling and Fernandez all had All-Star accolades attached to their names headed into October of 1986. Ojeda, who didn’t, was the guy I wanted out there most.
(Bobby Ojeda and a problem with a finger on the eve of another postseason and its disturbing historical parallel to the current status of Starling Marte constitute a different thread for a different day. Not gonna pull on that one right now.)
DeGrom isn’t done because he didn’t outduel Max Fried on Friday night. Scherzer isn’t done because he didn’t outduel Kyle Wright on Saturday night. The Mets aren’t done because they didn’t touch the Brave bullpen enough on Friday or at all on Saturday. This ace talk can be a little simplistic. But aces do get your attention even if they don’t always hold your place.
On to the next pair. Chris Bassitt has the ball tonight. So does Charlie Morton. They’re both pitchers you’d assign a value of no less than jack, queen or king on any given day. Bassitt will have to be better than Morton. Met relievers will have to be better than Brave relievers. Met hitters will have to stir from their stupor. Have faith that these Mets — they of the “98” under W and an indelible “x” or “y” alongside their name depending on where you study your standings — can ace this test. I don’t know that they will, but they can. Faith, like the common household object you might use as a bookmark, is already something you have within easy reach. Don’t give up on it or these Mets. Don’t be overwhelmed by doubt. This is neither the time nor the place.
So the numbers are slightly off. If the Mets win today, the effective magic number goes from 6 to 3 as they will have the tiebreaker. Three games with Nats means win 3 and you’re in or the old ‘any combination of Mets wins and Braves losses’ totaling three does it. So your comment win 2 of 3 vs Wash is one shy. Anyway win today ! LGM
I revised that. Thanks.
Congrats to the Braves, they have earned it. For the Mets, they are what the standings say they are.
This is a must win for the Mets. #LGM!
Disappointing but sometimes you have to tip your cap to the other team. This couldn’t have set up better for our pitching and they got us. Twice. These games are a nice illustration of the value of power hitting.
Salvage today and at least it won’t be a disaster.
Well, first I want to say that it’s alway nice to come here for a perspective that comes with historical understanding and doesn’t perpetrate the knee-jerk overreactions so common in sports social media and mainstream media. So thank you for that.
I’m a long-time Mets fan, since the 60s. I know how rare and special seasons like 2022 are. I’ve savored every moment this year. And making the playoffs, albeit under the new system, is wonderful. And I am hopeful now because their destiny is still in their hands as of today. And one thing this season showed is that this team is capable of recovering spectacularly from a gut-wrenching loss.
That said, I still have my worries. My intuition tells me the signs aren’t good. The playoffs are about who gets hot at the right time. The Braves (and Padres) look hot, and the Mets pitching & hitting seems cold as ice. Look at the quality of the ABs in the last two games. Poor. It seems like it’s always Tyler Naquin coming up in the big spots. The team doesn’t feel sparky. Definitely no swagger despite winning 98 games. Also, Buck has me concerned. I have loved the job he’s done this season. I love his baseball IQ & attention to detail. But it hasn’t felt like he’s been managing these games as must-win games.
Anyway, you’re right. There’s hope. And there’s still much to celebrate and savor from this season. But I’m going into to tonight’s game on tenterhooks, almost feeling like we need a miracle. In a weird way, either outcome seems like it’s very Metsian in its own way. Fingers crossed. Mets cap on. LGM!
In Rocky & Bullwinkle, Mr.Peabody & his boy Sherman have Way Back Machine”.
My machine keeps ending up in Atlanta in the last games of 1998.
Oh no, stop the machine, I don’t like how this ended in 1998.
Faith I have for 6 decades and sometime it’s rewarded.
Fear I also have because of what I’ve seen.
Mets have had a great turn-around season, hope it does not end on a sour note.
Let’s Go Mets!
Tonight’s game is as pivotal as it gets in the regular season short of a winner-take-all play-in. I wish it was an afternoon game because I’m antsy waiting.
Going in I thought the Mets needed to win 2 of 3 because I didn’t believe the Mets would sweep the Nationals and did believe the Braves could well sweep the Marlins. Hopefully the Marlins wins over the Brewers have whet their appetite to spoil the Braves, too, with or without Alcantara.
DeGrom and Scherzer failing is disheartening as Nimmo expressed well. The Braves deserve to feel they’re the best. On the other hand the Mets played like a yo-yo throughout September. They can snap back to contender level in game 3 to satisfy the minimum need from the Braves series.
Maybe being pushed to the wall is the shock the Mets need for the offense to wake up enough to seize the division and charge into the playoffs.
If they lose the game tonight though, then I’ll wonder if the Mets will reach 100 wins let alone win the wildcard round.
Nifty metaphor with the aces.
Sorry, but I’m pissed. Steve Cohen should be too. 77 Million 2022 Dollars worth of pitching let us/him down in the 2 biggest games of the season. Correct, let’s see Bulldog Bassitt pitch a gem tonight.
gotta say, I was prepared for Jake losing. I wasn’t for Max. But Bassitt – whose quote was used to define much of this Mets season – can secure his place in the lore with a solid performance tonight.
The bats have got to hammer Morton, though, early and often. Boy do they miss Marte..
I did not get to watch the post-game at all after Friday’s game and only partially after last night’s game. Has anyone asked Buck the following, and more importantly, has he (or anyone with the Mets) given any kind of answers:
1.Why are you tinkering with the lineup, and with Alonso of all hitters? Pete was scorching hot coming into this series and aside from a couple of singles he’s had a bad time at the plate, swinging at first pitches and popping up a lot. Canha is not a clean-up hitter and neither is McNeil nor Escobar. For heaven’s sake, you have the prototypical clean-up hitter having a career year and you’re moving him to a table-setter position? Why, Buck, why?
2. Why was Alvarez called up and thrown immediately into a burning hot cauldron? I know DH has been a disaster, particularly from the right side, but taking the number one prospect in all of baseball and hurling him into games that are in front of (for the most part) an unfriendly crowd, with the division on the line, and giving him not only meaningful at-bats but crucial ones, is bordering on organizational malpractice. Alvarez is absolutely blameless here, but the moment thus far has been too big for him. It would be too big for even the most composed rookie (e.g., David Wright, Michael Conforto). It smacks of desperation. Is there no one else to act as a righty DH?;it’s not like Darin Ruf is irreplaceable. This is getting Alvarez’s career off to a most inauspicious start, and I hope it doesn’t carry over into next week or next season. And I’m mystified why Alvarez was batting against a righty, let alone Kenley Jansen, in the ninth on Friday night. I’m not a fan of Vogelbach’s, but he could not have done any worse.
3.Why was deGrom started on regular rest when it was clear he wasn’t right in Oakland (and it turns out he’s battling blisters)? Bassitt is starting on eight days rest tonight when he could have easily gone on Friday. He and Scherzer have been the stoppers all season; Jake could have used the extra days. Now it turns out the Wednesday game (BTW, nice work MLB, ending the season on Yom Kippur) will be necessary and deGrom may not be able to pitch it, which was probably the reason he started Friday in the first place. Has Buck discussed or given any clues as to how the pitching is going to line up for the Nats series?
I’m only asking the questions everyone else is, and Buck has pulled all the right levers this season up until the last two weeks or so. He probably has well thought-out reasons for all of this, and Bassitt may throw a gem tonight, Pete may return to his rightful place in the lineup and start smacking homers and doubles again, Jake may be fine to go Wednesday if needed, and Alvarez may hit a home run we’ll still be talking about 20 years from now after he retires from his Hall of Fame career. If you’re a Mets fan, you know that stranger things have happened in our 60-year history. But it seems reckless to rely on them.
I’ll be watching the Mets until their season is over, which won’t be for another week at least. But what has happened to our battling, gritty, grinding team that authored some incredible comebacks, a combined no-hitter, a deja vu Game Six ninth inning on Keith Hernandez day? Like Keith, they are missing in action right now.
To 1., I’ll add that it’s one thing to bat a slugger like Judge 2nd in the order. It’s another thing to bat a slugger who’s slow like Alonso 2nd in the order in, as you say, a table-setter position.
Is Alonso batting 2nd meant to hunt HRs like Schwarber at lead-off?