Hammerin’ Mets

By some stroke of coincidence, the Mets have visited Atlanta on the 30th, 40th and 50th anniversaries of Hank Aaron’s 715th career home run, which is swell, because what decent baseball fan doesn’t adore and revere the legacy of Hank Aaron? The Mets have to play the Braves at some point of every season. Might as well do it when one of the greatest players and achievements the sport has ever known is being commemorated.

The Mets weren’t mere spectators for this particular celebration of Hammerin’ Hank. They paid their own tribute by recreating the final score of the final game in which Aaron himself homered against them. That one, on July 17, 1973, finished up Mets 8 Braves 7 at what was then known as Atlanta Stadium, with not only Bad Henry contributing to the Atlanta offense in trademark fashion, but his fellow legend Willie Mays driving in what proved to be the winning run. For twenty seasons, so much of what made the National League special was defined by this duo. Aaron, now with 698 home runs, continued on his march toward surpassing Babe Ruth’s record the following April 8. Mays, who was sitting on 657 of an eventual 660 home runs, wound down toward saying Goodbye to America on September 25. They never again shared a box score.

The long view shouldn’t obscure what a tremendous comeback the Mets forged that night in a season that would have an even bigger one for them waiting come fall. Tug McGraw started, itself a story in that Tug was having the worst relief season of his life and Yogi Berra assigned him this start to snap him out of whatever was messing with the screwballer’s mind. Tug threw six innings and gave up seven runs but began to find himself. Meanwhile, with Aaron, Ralph Garr and Marty Perez all going deep, McGraw and the Mets fell into a 7-1 hole. Their 8-7 victory implies they dug their way out. They absolutely did, via a seven-run ninth. Rusty Staub homered with a man. John Milner — who was known as the Hammer, an homage to Hank — homered with a man on. Ultimately, Willie did his thing to give the Mets the lead heading to the bottom of the ninth. This is where a Mets fan of the early ’70s would expect Tug McGraw to come in and attempt to slam the door. Ah, but as noted, Tug started, so Yogi called on Harry Parker for the save opportunity. Harry struck out Darrell Evans and Sonny Jackson before getting Dusty Baker to foul out to Milner at first.

Mets 8 Braves 7. It reads so nice, the franchise decided to do it twice…technically an eighth time, as the Mets have beaten the Braves by this exact score on more occasions than you’d suspect, but let’s not get in the way of history rhyming, if not repeating.

With Aaron’s legacy in the spotlight and Baker visiting the SNY booth, the Mets a little too respectfully fell behind Atlanta, 4-0, early. Julio Teheran, whose name is familiar within the realm of Mets-Braves recaps, pitched in road grays while toeing a rubber he presumably knows well. Two innings as the Mets’ starter of next resort went all right. The third went about as well for the Mets on the 50th anniversary of 715 as the fourth went well for the Mets on the 30th anniversary of 715.

I should probably explain that.

On April 8, 2004, Dan Wheeler was the emergency starter for Art Howe’s Mets, forced into action when Scott Erickson, at the Julio Teheran stage of his career by then, was the latest of late scratches. Wheeler, a reliever who would pitch in the majors until 2012 without ever starting again, defused the perennial defending division champs’ offense wonderfully through the first, the second and the third. Staked to a 2-0 lead by a Ty Wigginton home run, a Mets fan thought his team might actually get away with something here. Then, in the fourth, Wheeler allowed a two-run double to Met-killer Johnny Estrada. The Mets took the lead back in the fifth, and Howe trusted Wheeler to stay in. Rafael Furcal doubled to lead off, ending Wheeler’s surprise start and opening the floodgates. The Mets went on to lose, 10-8.

In present-day Georgia, Teheran didn’t last as long as Wheeler, not after he yielded a two-run double to Ozzie Albies and a two-run homer to Marcell Ozuna. Two and two-thirds was all Julio could provide Carlos Mendoza, forcing Mendy to manage a bullpen game in which he was determined to not use the three relievers associated with the Mets holding leads…which didn’t seem like that much of a problem, considering the Mets trailed by four and this was Atlanta.

Hank Aaron slugged 40 home runs at age 40 in 1973, and it was, as viewed through orange-and-blue colored glasses, only the second-most remarkable feat in the National League that year. The Braves honored Hank Aaron on Monday night, and it turned out to be only the second-most gratifying event of the evening. We’re always happy to eclipse big doings in Atlanta. A single run in the top of the fourth, delivered by Starling Marte driving in Pete Alonso, didn’t hint that the spotlight would shift so dramatically. Brandon Nimmo taking Charlie Morton deep with two runners on in the fifth, however, indicated something was up, if not as far up as Brandon blasted his first homer of the season.

You watch the Mets at Truist Park, and you expect Travis d’Arnaud to do something harmful to them. Sure enough, he does that in the sixth, driving in the go-ahead run for the Braves off another pitcher-come-lately, Cole Sulser. Sulser replaced Yohan Ramirez on the roster Monday afternoon. Sulser didn’t give up anything else, though, same as Reed Garrett hadn’t given up anything at all once he took over for Teheran. Those relievers who are used when the manager doesn’t want to use the relievers he’d rather use sometimes come through somewhat.

Absolutely honor Aaron, but stamp the game as Nimmo’s.

Back to Brandon Nimmo: he hit his second home run of the season, in the seventh inning. It was also hit very far. Nimmo trails Aaron’s career total of 755 by 666, but his two wallops Monday night indicate neither he nor his team should be counted out too soon.

Speaking of players who might have been counted out too soon, do you remember DJ Stewart? He approximated heroic for the 2023 Mets after all hope was lost for that sorry squad. Last August he drove in scads of runs before cooling off. DJ had a tepid Spring and was off to an icy 0-for-12 start, his ability to stand in the lefthanders’ batter’s box basically the only thing suggesting he’ll still be a Met once J.D. Martinez is ready to compete. But now those who make personnel calculations will be compelled to factor in the two-run homer Stewart produced in the eighth inning. It put the Mets up, 7-5, and it reminded onlookers that, right, right, not everybody who doesn’t hit for a week-and-a-half doesn’t hit forever. Recent home runs from Jeff McNeil, Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo might have already told us that, but we require frequent reminders.

Hey, did somebody just mention Brandon Nimmo again? Well, they should have, because after Brian Snitker brought in lefty Jesse Chavez to face Nimmo, Nimmo knocked in his fifth run of what had turned into a robust affair. The Mets were up in the eighth, 8-5, and with Raley, Ottavino and Diaz out in the bullpen…

Oh yeah, they weren’t going to be used, because wins in Atlanta aren’t valued as much as resting relievers. So who else we got?

Jake Diekman, who followed Sulser in the seventh after Sulser followed Garrett in the sixth after Garrett followed Teheran in the third, walked the leadoff batter to begin the bottom of the eighth. Drew Smith, who’s edged into Circle of Trust territory of late, was rested enough to be judged eighthworthy. He followed Diekman. There was a lot of “traffic,” to use this year’s trendy vernacular, with walks and a wild pitch and acids in pits of stomachs, but Drew left the bases loaded, albeit after allowing one runner to walk home. The Braves had pulled to within 8-6.

The bottom of the ninth was not Edwin Diaz time or Tug McGraw time or Harry Parker time. The closer de la nuit was Jorge Lopez. Lopey, as Mendy calls him, has done some saving in his past, so why not? The retort might have been a) Matt Olson doubling and b) Ozuna doing something at least as bad had not Tyrone Taylor made a sparkling catch by the left field wall to keep Olson on the basepaths. Michael Harris singled to bring him home, and then Harris stole second, but a night that seemed poised to end as badly as possible got its groove back. Lopez induced a popout from Orlando Arcia and Old Friend™ d’Arnaud to fly out, and the scoreboard read at the end Mets 8 Braves 7.

Use it at will. It looks good in any year.