Image credit: Roberto Carlo
What a night. Like, that was something else. If we didn’t know any better, that was the cataclysmic moment this team’s been waiting on for months. Now it’s just up to the Mets to turn it into something special.
Francisco Lindor put his signature on the night in bold print, smashing a three-run go-ahead homer in the second, a solo shot in the sixth, and the eventual game-winner off Chad Green in the eighth.
Oh, and a little bit of Saturday’s contest spilled into the following evening, too. On Saturday, as Taijuan Walker was being tagged for five runs early, Jonathan Villar made an unexpected visit to the mound.
From the outside looking in, it appeared it was a simple cool-down, which appeared to work as Walker set down 13 Yankees in a row following his hiccup. It turns out there was a more nefarious impetus behind the timeout.
Per Marly Rivera of ESPN (according to Sunday’s broadcast), the visit was to inform Walker that he may have been tipping pitches, and the Yankees may have been relaying that information to their hitters via whistles from the dugout.
So, as one does, while rounding the bases following his solo homer in the sixth on Sunday to put New York (N) ahead 6-4, Lindor made the Mets’ displeasure with the situation very well known. We don't mind that at all.
And the fun didn’t end there!
As Giancarlo Stanton was rounding the bases following his seventh-inning, game-tying, two-run homer off Brad Hand, the hulking slugger actually stopped on the basepaths to jaw with Lindor and Javier Báez, leading benches to empty and.. here, let’s take a look.
Lindor would have the last laugh, hitting his third homer of the game in the eighth, simply pointing to his bicep this time, to give the Mets a 7-6 lead that Edwin Diaz would hammer down in the ninth.
Again, what a night.
After the game, Lindor spoke about the fracas but first took a moment to thank the fans for the electricity they provided throughout an extremely emotional weekend.
“Wow, what an amazing weekend. The Mets fans put up an absolute show. It felt like the playoffs but [the temperature was] hot,” he said. “This weekend wasn’t for us. It was for everybody that fought out there and contributed to something that’s way bigger than the game.”
The Subway Series has undoubtedly lost some of its luster in recent years. It’s safe to say that vibe changed over the course of this weekend.
From a fan’s perspective, having seen the Subway Series evolve from its inception to its peak in 2000 to the run-of-the-mill occurrence it had become, what we witnessed this weekend in Flushing — anniversaries and otherwise — breathed new life into the “rivalry”, as well as into the Mets themselves.
As for the evening’s fireworks, Lindor mostly defused the situation in his postgame presser, acknowledging that Stanton appeared to simply want to say his piece, not start a physical altercation.
Though, regarding the origin of the dust-up, Lindor didn’t mince words.
“I can’t accuse them of whistling [to indicate] signs, because I’m not 100 percent [sure], but I know what I heard. I felt like there was something out of the ordinary going on,” Lindor said. “I’m not accusing them. I’m not saying they’re doing it 100 percent, because I don’t know. But it definitely felt that way. I took that personally.”
He sure did. And with impeccable timing.
Atlanta still leads the National League East by five games, but the Mets wake up Monday just three games out of the second NL Wild Card spot. Eighteen games left is more than enough to make some waves. Just gotta capitalize on the opportunity.
Onward and upward, friends. Let’s have some fun.
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Tim. You truly have a Blessed GIFT of being an amazing Scribe!! When reading "Flushing Fireworks and New Life", I was literally transported to CitiField to relive each and every second of last night's beyond believable Series Win!! Keep Fabulously Doing You Boo!! Your ROI is coming!!