Moral Victories are Real and Spectacular
Can't win them all, but you can certainly build off a performance like this
Seeing Wednesday’s lineup card conjured raw memories of the bare benches of yesteryear. Triggering stuff.
Though, unlike the lint-pocketed catalyst behind some of those nightmarish rosters, injuries are the main culprit behind the current decimation of these Metsies.
Can’t do much about that. Just gotta keep it moving. And moving this team has kept it.
Taijuan Walker, added to the 10-day IL on Wednesday as a precaution after experiencing left-side tightness in his last start, is the eighth Mets player to hit the IL this month.
Over that span, this team has gone 11-5, winning 9-of-their-last-12 heading into tonight. Next man up, personified.
We talked about the value of steady leadership here earlier in the day. It’s appeared to work wonders for the Mets so far.
That, and a steady stream of hungry ballplayers looking to make their individual marks on this ballclub at a time it needs added production the most.
Cameron Maybin, acquired for cash from the Cubs on Tuesday, was penciled into the three-hole if you needed any additional confirmation of the dire situation the Mets’ roster is in.
The fabled Bench Mob has evolved simply into The Mob, and the latest wave of reserves are going through their initiation process now.
Khalil Lee, ears still wet from making his MLB debut earlier this week, began to make his bones with that gorgeous catch in Tuesday’s win.
His bat isn’t quite there yet, but it’s just a matter of time before him the rest of the new guys settle in and begin to make an impact.
On Wednesday, the uniformed personnel made no difference. When you’re hot, you’re hot, and this group played like a team on fire.
This was a day-after-clinching lineup. This was a the-guys-had-a-late-night-in-Port St. Lucie lineup. And it was nearly a sweep-the-Braves-in-Atlanta lineup.
Let’s jump right in…
David Peterson, coming off arguably the best start of his young career (7.1 IP, 2 ER, 9 K, 2 BB versus Tampa Bay last Friday), continued on that path early, working perfectly through the Braves lineup the first time through, striking out five.
Atlanta right-hander Charlie Morton held the B-Mets (no, not Bingo) scoreless through three but Jonathan Villar broke the stalemate in the fourth with his fourth home run of the season (solo), going deep for the second straight game.
Villar has been coming up pretty huge despite going just 6-for-his-last-27 heading into the night, as evidenced by his .444 slugging percentage over that span. At junctures like these, that will do.
Freddie Freeman was Atlanta’s first baserunner of the night, singling with one out in the fourth, but Peterson erased him and kept his workload to the minimum with a 6-6-3 inning-ending double play off the bat of Marcell Ozuna.
Peterson ran into some trouble on the basepaths in the fifth (Austin Riley double, William Contreras hit-by-pitch), and paid for his transgressions on RBI singles via Guillermo Heredia and Charlie Morton, putting Atlanta ahead 2-1.
Yup, those are definitely the guys that you expect to get to you when facing this Braves lineup. Hey, that’s baseball, baby.
Ball four to Ronald Acuna Jr. got by James McCann, allowing Contreras to scuttle home making it 3-1, and Freeman followed with a base hit to load the bases, ending Peterson’s once-promising night on a suspenseful note.
Right-hander Drew Smith got Ozuna to ground out, limiting the damage and closing the fifth and escaped a second-and-third, one-out jam in the sixth, striking out Contreras and getting pinch-hitter Pablo Sandoval to line out.
Through 4.1 innings of work this year, Smith hasn’t allowed an earned run, striking out six with one walk (0.92 WHIP). As noted here earlier this week, if the 27-year-old can continue to get big outs, he’s going to be a contributor.
With nine outs to make some waves against the Braves bullpen (4.93 ERA is 24th in MLB), the Mets got right to work, plating three in the seventh on Jose Peraza’s RBI double and Tomas Nido’s two-run bloop single to take a 4-3 lead.
We’ve seen this movie before. Dominic Smith reached on an error with two outs, McCann walked, and a couple of guys get a couple of big hits. That’s how you make things happen and it’s becoming commonplace.
This team, man…
With Edwin Diaz and Jeurys Familia both putting in overtime this week, the Mets would need the second-squad to pick it up for the frontliners.
Miguel Castro benefitted from another sterling play from Lee in right field, robbing Freeman of extra bases and a surefire game-tying RBI in a scoreless eighth, but the show was far from over.
Riley doubled off Aaron Loup to start the eighth (heck of a series for the former first-round pick), Dansby Swanson added an infield hit, and Contreras tied the game with a base hit into right.
Jacob Barnes was tabbed to handle the two-on, no-out jam and got the job done, aided by a Mc-[expletive deleted]-Cannon assist to quash Swanson’s stolen base attempt at third sandwiched between two huge strikeouts of Heredia and Ehire Adrianza.
Tie game. Ninth inning. How else did we expect the first of six series between these two teams to wrap up?
Maybin reached on a dropped third strike to lead off the ninth, stole second with one out, and scampered to third on Will Smith’s second wild pitch of the inning, but McCann couldn’t fly one further than the infield grass and Peraza’s weak liner harmlessly dropped into Riley’s glove to end the frame.
That missed opportunity would prove costly.
On cue, Acuna took Barnes’ first pitch of the bottom half to dead-centerfield, walking it off for Atlanta. Meh. Moral victories are real and they’re spectacular.
Off-day tomorrow. Miami on Friday. Keep it locked.
On that note, here’s your moment of zen.
Noah Syndergaard (TJS) made his first rehab start on Wednesday in Port St. Lucie (via Steve Gelbs of SNY).
Syndergaard worked perfectly through the first three innings of his 4.1-frame outing, throwing 44 pitches and touching 97 MPH with his fastball, sitting 94 — fine by us in his first appearance back in the saddle.
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