The Mets and the Nats, sheesh. I guess it proves that for every Nieuwenhuis there’s a Suzuki. And for the critical stretches of Monday night’s mildly bonkers game, it wasn’t clear whether the compass was going to wind up pointing to N or S.
And I missed the first five innings! I mean, so sue me — we were eating lobsters on the dock with Emily’s parents (actually I was eating fish and chips, due to a shellfish allergy) and I’d forgotten it was a 6:45pm start. Not to deflect attention from my lack of said, but isn’t that a little early to start a game anyway? 7:05, 7:10, even 7:40 I get … but 6:45 is just weird.
Fortunately, all I’d missed was the Mets being frustrated by MacKenzie Gore. I’d just gotten the TV on (accompanied by a gorgeous Maine sunset) when the Mets rose up in indignation, with Mark Vientos [1] singling in Harrison Bader [2] to bring the Mets within one, Tyrone Taylor [3] reaching on a CJ Abrams [4] error and Francisco Alvarez [5] lashing a Derek Law [6] cutter that didn’t cut into the gap for a 3-2 Mets lead.
It looked like the Mets might hold that lead, with Dedniel Nunez [7] taking over for David Peterson [8] and collecting four outs, leaving the Mets with four to get. But then Nunez walked Jesse Winker [9] and Joey Meneses [10] smacked a single to right field that took a strange bounce, startling a perhaps not completely attentive Taylor. Just like that, the Nats had tied it, and the ghosts of the last two days were suddenly romping around, cackling predictions of doom.
Nunez survived when Ildemaro Vargas [11] inexplicably tried to bunt for a hit (seriously, WTF?); Jake Diekman [12] came in for the ninth and immediately put the Mets in harm’s way when he threw away a ball, allowing newcomer James Wood [13] to reach second with nobody out. The Mets survived when Taylor just barely corralled a drive by Jacob Young [14] and we were on to extras, with Francisco Lindor [15] once again the Manfred man.
This time, the Mets unloaded: Down 0-2 against Hunter Harvey [16] and mired in an 0 for 12 funk, J.D. Martinez [17] got a splitter that hung in the middle of the plate and drove it over the fence for a three-run homer. Alvarez brought in Taylor with a triple, and Jose Iglesias [18] followed with a two-run blast. The Mets had driven in six runs, and Gary Cohen was exulting about putting the hammer down and cappers.
To be fair to Gary, so was I and quite possibly so were you. But Tyler Jay [19] gave up a pair of walks and a pair of doubles and looked like he couldn’t get enough air out there, despite Alvarez trying to cajole, entreat and bully him across the finish line. (Alvarez is must-see TV, whether he’s show-ponying his way around the bases after another big hit or behind the plate tending to a reliever who’s become a spooked horse.) Jay was excused further duty in favor of Reed Garrett [20], who hasn’t been scintillating of late and was facing the tying run in Keibert Ruiz [21].
Ruiz singled in a run and the Nats were a drive down the line away from tying it and a home run away from showing the Mets the Full Suzuki [22], and if you were confident, well, I want to have what you were having. So of course Garrett made short work of Luis Garcia Jr. [23], erasing him on a splitter to secure the victory. The lesson, as always: Never try to outguess baseball. The Mets had won despite playing reliever roulette with four or five rounds chambered; they’ll now undoubtedly make a slew of new moves in hopes that a few more of those chambers come up empty around 8pm Tuesday.
We won. Was it fun? It was at times. Were there times when I thought the best course of action was to slip into the other room and turn my stomach inside out? Yes there were. And that was not fun.
Let’s just say it … was a lot [24].