Take a moment and consider the life of Huascar Brazoban.
Not long ago he was stuck on the Marlins, with Jazz Chisholm Jr. offering near-daily examples of being a bad teammate, Skip Schumaker staring out of the dugout like a man who can’t bear to think how long he’ll be on county work release, and the whole proceedings weighed down by the usual Marlins air of shoddiness and drift.
Now he’s a Met, in the middle of a race for a playoff spot, and things are just a little different.
For those who were sleeping, Brazoban was summoned in the ninth inning in San Diego after the Mets had scored five runs to make a taut, tight game into something to be dispensed with.
It didn’t go well: After retiring the first hitter, Brazoban walked the next two and allowed an RBI single. A pop-up to the infield secured the second out, but then Brazoban allowed another run on a Jurickson Profar single. In stepped Jake Cronenworth, who’d ripped a laser-beam grounder in the fifth inning that Jose Iglesias somehow corralled and turned into a double play. The laugher had already become a mutterer and a long ball from Cronenworth would return it to teeth-gritter status.
Brazoban looked saucer-eyed, like all the air had been sucked out of Petco Park when he needed it most. At shortstop, Francisco Lindor was clearly as exasperated as all of us still watching. But he was also clapping madly and shouting encouragement at Brazoban, as well as his teammates and the cosmos in general. Behind the plate, Francisco Alvarez had his helmet lifted atop his face and was also exhorting Brazoban.
What must that be like? Don’t you think Brazoban sometimes thinks, “What happened to me that I’ve wound up here?”
The teammate full-court press worked: Brazoban coaxed a groundout from Cronenworth to end the game, and his infielders mobbed him on the mound and jumped up and down, which was a little bit funny in its bit-too-muchness but also oddly sweet.
Between Lindor’s slow start and the usual lack of appreciation from Mets fans who ought to know better, one could miss that he’s having yet another phenomenal season. And even when his bat’s gone inexplicably cold, Lindor has never let his offensive struggles interfere with being the captain of the infield, constantly repositioning and strategizing and cheerleading. In that role he reminds me of Keith Hernandez, all but oozing intensity and issuing commands that were obeyed without question. (Except Hernandez’s intensity was faintly scary, while Lindor invariably looks cheerful even when the scoreboard looks dour.)
I also love the way Alvarez goes about his business: His offensive approach still needs refining but he looks like an old veteran calling a game. He reminds me of Rene Rivera, who saw his share of spooked-horse relievers and excelled at shifting between soothing, cajoling and browbeating, doing whatever was needed to get them across the finish line.
If that was the most interesting part of the game, it followed some pretty satisfying developments: another solid (or at least solid-adjacent) start by Luis Severino; offensive contributions from Mark Vientos, Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil; that game-saving Iglesias play; solid relief work from Reed Garrett and Phil Maton; and a Jesse Winker serve into left-center that looked like a carbon copy of his walkoff homer, except this time Winker had to settle for a triple.
And, it should be noted, the Mets did all this after flying coast to coast without an off-day; they would have been forgiven a lethargic emotional letdown of a game but instead hammered out 17 hits and claimed the season series from the Padres.
The Mets are four games into a 10-game stretch that loomed as a potential season breaker; so far they’ve taken two out of three from the Orioles and grabbed the first of four from San Diego. Still work to be done of course, but that’s a good start. Here’s to the Franciscos continuing to holler and direct, and to more happy postgame mobs on enemy infields.
I love the Lindor/Hernandez comparison. I can’t think of another Met team where one infielder took charge in the way that both Keith and Francisco have. There’s no question, however, that Lindor goes with a kinder, gentler approach. Keith’s tough love approach to Jesse Orosco in Game Six comes to mind. One quails to think how he would have dealt with the deer-in-the-headlights look of our Huascar in last night’s game.
Yes, after two mound visits I’m willing to say the Mets have formed a “Huascar Brazoban Support Group.” Unfortunately it appears to be Spanish-language only as Pete Alonso is not invited. ;) And Alvarez and Lindor had something more going on. I dunno what they were saying but Alvarez was grinning behind his mask. Supposedly one of the things that came out of that post-Dodgers-Lopez-glove players meeting was they need to have fun. I think they took it to heart.
I spent the better part of 8 innings convinced the run we left when Vientos got picked off in the 1st would come back to haunt us. 4-1 sure looked better to me than 3-1. Then who else – Vientos – got a hit in the 9th and all was right with the world. 8 runs without hitting one out? Maybe that’s what Alvarez was grinning about, Golden Sombrero or not. It makes me smile anyway.
Lindor’s facial expressions were priceless, and yes, that celebration at the end was really cute. And — why not?
Those misguided Mets fans must not realize that Lindor has been a consistent hitter, especially lately. Never mind his slow start. During the disaster in Seattle he was the only one who kept pounding out the hits. Btw, how’s that “best rotation in all of baseball” doing these days?
Don’t forget Danny Young. With all the recent Padres comebacks, the 3-1 lead felt like the Mets were losing. But the bullpen held the line. If the bullpen’s B team can consistently hold the line like we trust the A team (Butto, Diaz, hopefully post-injury Nunez) to do, that’s big.
Cease is an ace. The Mets play down. They also play up. Who’d be surprised if the Mets held their own against the Padres and Diamondbacks, and then lost the White Sox series? I’m confident the Mets have a legitimate shot if they make the post-season. The hard part is getting into the tournament.
The Padres have been hot with a scary line-up, so I’m okay with Severino’s typical 2024 Mets starter too short outing that nonetheless limits the damage. And, coming off the 113-pitch CGSO where he pushed himself, I’m okay with not pushing Severino to 6 innings, 100-plus pitches after a stressful 5 innings, 87 pitches. Severino did his job. It looks like he’s caught his second wind for the stretch run.
Since Stearns wasn’t going to add a premium-priced sure thing or two in the bullpen, the next best thing was to lean on scouting to add a handful of discount risk-reward types and hope enough of them stepped up. Jury’s still out on Stanek. Maton mostly has delivered, albeit without wipeout stuff and with stressfully high pitch counts and too many inherited runners scoring. Of all of them, Brazoban was obviously valued the highest since he was slated right away to be a high-leverage reliever. Yet he’s disappointed the most. Brazoban has wipeout stuff, but so far, apparently, not the control or mindset for the job. So far, it looks like Brazoban needs to join Fujinami and Montes de Oca in the Mets’ pitching lab for erratic relievers with electric arms.
Alonso may never be a gold glover, but as far as catching wide throws and short hops, he can pick it at first base.
While the Mets are staying in it by beating contenders, Mariners excepted (What’s happened to them?), it’d be nice for the Braves to reward the Mets by losing a few games and handing over the 3rd wildcard. No matter how many major injuries they have, though, until proven otherwise, the Braves are still the Braves. They’re not going to hand over the 3rd wildcard. I expect Urshela to give them the borderline all-star production that emergency replacements typically give the Braves. It’s too far ahead to focus on now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it came down to the Sept 24-26 series in Atlanta. Until then, maybe the Phillies go cold enough to give up the division lead after all. Maybe the Padres and Diamondbacks go cold again and give up their wildcards. Maybe the Giants or another team that’s close behind the Mets get hot enough to leapfrog the Braves and the Mets. There’s still enough season left for any of that to happen.
“…this time Winker had to settle for a triple”
Winker did end up on third, but it was scored a double with Winker taking the extra base on the throw home on Alonso’s score.