So that was certainly a palate cleanser.
The thud made by the back half of the series against the Braves left me fretting: that the Mets were about to topple into one of their periodic team slumps, that their starters would routinely implode in the middle innings, that new bullpen acquisitions would flame out, that … oh, insert another half-dozen bad things here.
Was that an overreaction to a two-game losing streak from a team that’s been at the pinnacle of baseball for the better part of two months? Of course it was. Was such fretting surprising given that the Mets are in an actual pennant race, nouveau baseball wild-card asterisks notwithstanding? Also yes. Living and dying with a temporary assemblage of 26 young millionaires dressed in bizarre livery is what we do, and though it’s self-evidently ridiculous, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
But there I was, frowning and muttering as the Mets started their half of the fourth inning down 1-0 to the Twins and once-upon-a-time Mets farmhand Simeon Woods Richardson. Yes, Jose Quintana had kept the Mets in the game, limiting the damage to a single run in the first and using his curveball to befuddle the Twins. But the Mets weren’t hitting, as was their recent pattern, and I could sense a little black cloud forming above my head.
Little did I know that the Mets were about to hit Woods Richardson and the Twins like a tornado.
Pete Alonso got it started with a bolt of a homer off the facing of the second deck in left; he ended the inning by striking out. In between, eight non-Alonso Mets batted and the team put up six runs.
It was so much fun that in the sixth they sent 11 men to the plate and scored five more runs. The seventh saw eight Mets bat and four runs score. All 11 guys to appear in the batting order on the night collected hits, including substitutes Tyrone Taylor (who added a superb, homer-robbing catch) and Ben Gamel. Alonso is still chasing offspeed stuff out of the zone but hitting balls with authority again. Brandon Nimmo put together the kind of solid ABs we’ve missed seeing. Luis Torrens filled in nicely for Francisco Alvarez, whose shoulder is sore.
By the end of the game the questions had turned outright farcical: Why does Carlos Santana wear his uniform pants so they look like a sufragette-era woman’s bathing costume? If you shuffled the Twins’ and Marlins’ helmets, would players on either team notice? Can pinstripes on the road be classified as a capital offense? Did Gary really just bait Keith into railing about technology? Is Matt Wallner going to get proper credit for being the Twins’ most effective pitcher of the night? Did Jose Butto just record the least stressful save in baseball history?
These are the kind of questions that get batted around as laughers saunter to their inevitable — and oh so welcome — conclusion.
Taylor had substituted in right field for Winker. I wonder if Winker would have made that catch, being unfamiliar with playing right? Maybe he would have, but interesting to speculate.
Dammit. Nationals closer Kyle Finnegan blasted for 5 runs in the 9th to lose 9-8 to the Diamondbacks, who are .5 behind the Mets. Little help, c’mon.
Through 3 I was worried about Quintana. Ball had a lot of movement but he had a hard time locating it. I was waiting for him to have a bad night but in the top of the 4th he started finding the range.
Alonso needs to watch tape of his ABs with bases empty vs with men on. In one he chases and strikes out a lot. In another he waits for the pitcher to come to him or takes the walk.
Not sure what’s going on with the Butto use. I understand having him go 3 once he’s in to keep him stretched out but if he’s an important part of the bullpen why bring him in at all when it’s 11-1?
Never bad when the night ends with the opponent putting a position player on the mound.
How come WE can’t (or don’t) put in a position player when WE are UP 10 runs, rather than waste guys who really mean something (or other guys who mean nothing)?
The stretching out Butto thing so he can be a possible starter is being too cute by half. I realize each regular season game means less than it used to, but now he cannot be used today and probably not tomorrow either.
So here’s the rumor I’ve been hearing on the pods: The reason Mendy left Butto in for 3 innings in a laugher is that they’re stretching him out in advance of putting him into the starting rotation. That makes sense, given a) Senga’s injury, b) Megill’s ineffectiveness as a starter, and c) Diekman’s recent DFA (yesss!!!) and replacement by Matt Gage. The idea is that Butto has pitched himself into the rotation, Gage could take his place as long man in the bullpen, and Megill hopefully improves while pitching in the less stressful mop up roll most recently held by Diekman. Makes sense to me.
I hope Butto is going into the starting rotation and the many reliever pick-ups, plus Megill and possibly Blackburn, are backfill for Butto going into the rotation. Butto deserves a shot at starter. He should have been given that shot ahead of Scott. It’d be equivalent to a big trade deadline addition if Butto performs as well as a starter as I believe he would. Plus, I believe Megill’s proper role is in the bullpen. If Megill or the new Mets relievers make up for taking Butto out of the bullpen, all the better.
It annoys me that Lugo is not a starter for the Mets right now, and I want the Mets to show they learned the lesson of Lugo with Butto.
Hey, I hear Finnegan’s available!
Strike while the iron is hot!
Was anyone else surprised at seeing Winker, or anyone, wearing #3? I was kinda shocked, in my mind anyway it was retired.
Nido wore #3.
I looked it up after posting that comment and saw that, for some reason that made no impression on me.
Who wore 3 for the Mets so that it should be retired? https://www.baseball-almanac.com/teams/baseball_uniform_numbers.php?t=NYN
Bud Harrelson was an important Met, but not that important.
It took Gary & Keith 2 Innings to figure out that it was Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, not Howlin’ Wolf, who recorded I Put a Spell On You.
Keith kept talking about a Howlin’ Wolf Video that he loved but he never said which one. I’m assuming it was this one, circa 1965 on Shindig. The story goes that the Rolling Stones would only agree to appear on the show if Howlin’ Wolf did too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWBS0GX1s9o