When they announce the next year’s baseball schedule I take a look, because how can’t you? But after a couple of glances — When’s the home opener? How many times do we go to the West Coast? — I go back to whatever I was doing. The dates are far off, you have no idea which teams will have made leaps forward or taken steps back, and everything’s just too theoretical for deep engagement.
Then the schedule becomes real, and if you find yourself with something to fight for in September, you pore over every remaining game, estimating and fussing and wondering and worrying.
The Mets reported for duty at Citizens Bank Park facing a gantlet: seven against the Phillies, interrupted by three with the Nats, then three with the Braves and three with the Brewers. Two first-place teams, the team the Mets are trying to hold off in the wild card, and a squad whose rebuild has accelerated.
Yikes! But it’s also true that as a baseball fan, the surest way to look foolish is to try to outguess the game.
The early innings of Friday night’s game were even more nerve-wracking than one would expect, given the stakes. The Phillies came out wearing their New Sweden on steroids City Connects (J.T. Realmuto‘s yellow catching gear made him look oddly like Bumblebee from the Transformers movies) and kept hammering balls delivered by Jose Quintana, only to see every drive except Bryce Harper‘s first-inning double find a Met glove. (Pete Alonso set the tone immediately with a jai alai capture of a laser beam from Kyle Schwarber that nearly tore his glove off.) Meanwhile, the Mets could do absolutely nothing against Aaron Nola, who got hitter after hitter to worry about his curveball and so left them gaping at the fastball.
Still, the Mets were driving Nola’s pitch count up, and that was enough to make you squint and hope a little. It was a relief when Jose Iglesias led off the fifth with a single — at least there went Nola’s no-no dreams. Tyrone Taylor followed with a single of his own and Nola went to work against Francisco Alvarez, whose ABs have been much better of late. Alvarez swung and missed at Nola’s first offering, a curve that got a little more plate than its deliverer would have liked. The second pitch was another curve, lower and inside and harder to square up in isolation, but Alvarez was now looking for a curve in that general area. He golfed the ball into the night, waving it fair and watching it rattle off the foul pole for a 3-0 Mets lead.
Jubilation, and the Mets weren’t done: After singles from Francisco Lindor and Mark Vientos, Brandon Nimmo hammered another Nola curve into the right-field stands for the second three-run shot of the inning. The Mets were up 6-0, Nola was exiting, and wasn’t baseball wonderful?
That was all Quintana needed as he cruised through seven innings, Harrison Bader added a three-run shot of his own (nine runs via three-run shots — Earl Weaver would have been delighted), and the Mets finished up taking their hacks against Roger Clemens‘ kid, the one named Knothole or Knitcap or some other stupid K word inflicted on him by his war-criminal father. There was a bit of fuss in the ninth as Alex Young ran into trouble and Lindor left early with what’s being called lower-back soreness; the former can be dismissed with a wave at the scoreboard, and we’ll worry about the latter when we’re told we have to.
Only the most deluded optimist would high-five madly at having survived 6.25% of the gantlet, but only the most determined pessimist would get so hung up on the remaining 93.75% that he’d refuse to enjoy the moment.
It’s baseball; don’t try to outguess it.
Looks like we’ll get a look at Acuna. Not sure if he’s the real deal. I’ve seen a lot of reports saying his big league ceiling is as a utility player, not an every day guy and if it wasn’t for his name he wouldn’t get a lot of attention.
Hope this doesn’t mean they put Lindor in a body cast last night.
Nice to get some hits but 1 game plus an inning doesn’t equal a trend.
ha! that’s what i was worried about though the post did say this was in the works before lindor got ‘hurt’
not a trend, but imagine the alternative of mets bats still cold and gathering cobwebs.
was great to see so many slumping hitters come alive last night, a night of many holy-f-bombs! from this mouth.i didn’t like seeing the phils get a little late-inning life but theirs is not a team that doesn’t have the mental aspect pretty solid so we didn’t awaken a sulking giant…but still.
mets: let’s roll to 13% and keep it going!
Like mikeL said, the reporting says the Acuna promotion was planned before Lindor strained his back. Just looking at Acuna’s current scouting report and stats, and ignoring his future ceiling, I don’t see much difference between him and Eddy Alvarez. Weak bat, speed, versatility on defense. Alvarez is a veteran. Acuna is playoff eligible.
As far as playoff eligibility, does bringing up Acuna now indicate the Mets expect McNeil won’t be back by the wildcard series, or even later? If that’s the case, it makes sense to get Acuna’s feet wet in the big leagues now for when he takes Stewart’s place as the 26th man for the playoffs and the 27th and 28th man drop off the active roster.
Note, Pablo Reyes passed through waivers and is back in AAA. He’s playoff eligible, too.
I hate Clemens’ guts but not once have I ever considered referring to him as a war criminal….Kudos to you!
“if you find yourself with something to fight for in September, you pore over every remaining game, estimating and fussing and wondering and worrying…only the most determined pessimist would get so hung up on the remaining 93.75% that he’d refuse to enjoy the moment”
I beg to differ. Worrying and picking over our players, manager, and GM (or team president, I guess), their competitors, the standings, and the schedule is a fundamental part of enjoying the moment. It’s a gift to be able to consume each game in the larger vibrant context of a pennant race. We can only do that when the Mets are in the race.
You know when I don’t obsess over the schedule and scoreboard? When the Mets are out of it. I’ll always pay attention to Mets games, no matter how lousy the team is, because bad Mets baseball is always better than no Mets baseball. But a Mets team in a close race down to the wire with strong contenders who are giving no quarter opens up a world of fandom where fully enjoying the moment means “estimating and fussing and wondering and worrying” over everything that it’ll take to make the tournament.
“it’s also true that as a baseball fan, the surest way to look foolish is to try to outguess the game”
Case in point, Quintana. Looks like toast for 4 starts, 19 earned runs over 20.2 innings. His next, last 4 starts? 1 earned run, 25 innings…and the run was scored by the White Sox, not the Padres or Phillies. Who were we saying is the ace now?
Not so long ago, we fantasized about a staff of aces handing off the moniker like a baton. While the offense, the team’s strength on paper, has been cold, the patchwork reclamation 3-5 starter rotation has been carrying the team with a run of rotation turns as good as any we once looked for from Harvey, deGrom, Syndergaard, Matz, Colon, and later, Wheeler.
“Francisco Alvarez, whose ABs have been much better of late”
If the two 3-run homers in 2 games means his power threat is back, that’s big because Alvarez can take McNeil’s place as a run producer in the bottom third of the order. That’s not to slight Iglesias who’s hit well since McNeil’s injury.
“Lindor left early with what’s being called lower-back soreness…and we’ll worry about the latter when we’re told we have to”
I think Lindor just learned the difference between being 20-something and 30-something. I expect he’ll still be sore today, but not too sore to play. I’ll even allow for 1 game off before I worry about it.
“It’s baseball; don’t try to outguess it.”
It’s been a roller coaster of a season. Though the valleys have leveled out, which is to say, the cold streaks in the 2nd half have been .500 ball. The 2024 Mets have specialized in bouncing back and punching hard when the season has looked to be on the brink of collapse.
More than anything, these Mets have shown that while they play down, they also play up. Barely scrounging a series win over the Blue Jays, then bludgeoning the Phillies is in character. That means over this final stretch, as much as the Braves scare me no matter how busy their IL is, it’s the Nationals series that most concerns me. It also means that right here and now, chasing a wildcard, is the hard part. If and when they make the tournament, I expect the Mets to play up–not like last time.
“More than anything, these Mets have shown that while they play down, they also play up. Barely scrounging a series win over the Blue Jays, then bludgeoning the Phillies is in character. That means over this final stretch, as much as the Braves scare me no matter how busy their IL is, it’s the Nationals series that most concerns me. It also means that right here and now, chasing a wildcard, is the hard part. If and when they make the tournament, I expect the Mets to play up–not like last time.”
with you there eric.
the mets have handled the best teams as their best selves.
i think they can all smell it and the level of focus intense.
this final stretch will either have the mets fall short – or get into october on a quite the run!
no backing in, no rest and aligning of the rotation.
just more post-season ball after what will have been a month of win-or-go-home sorts of games.
props to all involved, though i can’t believe lindor didn’t slide – thinking the ball wasn’t going to get back to 2nd so fast! hope he’s ready for tonite – or as you said – tomorrow at latest.
LGOMG!
i’m stoked!
It’s not a surprise, but still, the news that Nunez is out the rest of the season hurts. The Mets bullpen needs a fireman, and Nunez was proving to be a fireman. Blackburn doesn’t look like he’s coming back either. There’s the adage that you can never have enough [position type] because roster issues work themselves out.