A More Perfect Box Score

The Mets got the win Wednesday night in Miami, as they scored more runs than the Marlins for the third consecutive night. That’s the key indicator right there. So we’ll go W-NYM.

We shall credit Michael Conforto with the save. He came up in the ninth with Brandon Nimmo on first and bashed a two-run homer to put the Mets up, 5-3, after several of Conforto’s relief-pitching teammates conspired to transform a 3-0 Met lead into a 3-3 tie.

Nimmo gets what we’ll call an offensive assist because his single preceding Conforto’s homer came with two outs, making his hit critical to Conforto’s crucial shot.

I get the satisfaction of having thought, just as Brandon Kintzler threw to Michael, “I have a feeling he’ll homer here,” but that doesn’t show up in the box score.

Edwin Diaz gets nothing, not even a “way to go” for recovering from walking in the tying run with two out in the eighth and striking out the final four batters he faced. That he was the “pitcher of record” when Conforto went deep is purely incidental. That he preserved a two-run lead to close the game is the least he could do. Join me in satisfaction for the team winning, Edwin. It’s better than nothing.

Dellin Betances, who set up the house of cards for Diaz to knock down, gets to pick up the cards. And those he can hold if he wants a hold. Holds, still somehow an actual statistic, should be held in abeyance in general.

Jeurys Familia and Justin Wilson, they of the leadoff walk and the wild pitch that gave the Marlins their first run, get to come back tonight, but only because the world’s largest bullpen never has enough lukewarm bodies.

Seth Lugo gets Thursday’s start because we’ve had eight starting pitchers already in 26 games and we’re forced to turn to our most valuable reliever to save us from the first inning on. We no longer have a rotation. We have a pile of laundry we sort through in quest of a reasonably clean shirt.

Edwin Diaz gets more ninth innings, apparently. He’s slowly regained a portion of our trust. No way he’ll let us down.

Luis Guillorme and his .464 batting average, which encompasses his seventh-inning run-scoring single, gets a temperature check, because, brother, he’s hot.

Dom Smith, with this two doubles, including the one that extended the Mets’ lead to 3-1 in the eighth, gets a shot at leading the league in RBIs, provided he plays daily and that impudent Fernando Tatis, Jr., abides by the dusty custom of not swinging at pitches he can drive for grand slams with large leads (the nerve of that kid!). Current NL runs batted in leaders:

Tatis 29
Blackmon 22
Betts 21
Smith 21

Tatis has 104 at-bats; Charlie Blackmon, 94; Mookie Betts, 98; and our Dom has 65. Unless there’s an unwritten rule about making certain your best RBI guy isn’t in there every day, Dom — slashing .323/.403/.754 — does have a shot. Let’s keep giving him every shot. He’s earned it.

And Jacob deGrom gets our usual heap of gratitude for him being him and profound apologies for the Mets being the Mets when he is being Jake. Six innings of shutout ball after a blistery finger and a neck scare, the latter of which kept him from starting his last turn — four scattered singles, no walks, one mild error-induced jam from which to wriggle — is worthy of a W, but that letter technically went to Diaz, though we’ve opted to assign it to the team as a whole. DeGrom, with his ERA down to 1.93, said he felt “rusty”. Fathom what he’ll be like feeling free and easy.

Man, when you get that singular figure coming off the sidelines, addressing the most transcendent concerns of the day and delivering the message you really need to process, you get the feeling that maybe, just maybe, if everybody does their part, things are going to eventually work out. You know, like when deGrom pitches and the Mets somehow come back and get through their foibles and emerge in better shape than you imagined.

Stay safe. God bless.