In the midst of a 1-0 13 inning win over the Miami Marlins, New York Mets fans were treated to what now can only be considered a gift to them. David Wright took the field one last time, and took two at bats as he was able to waive good bye to the Flushing faithful one last time.
In his two plate appearances, Wright walked and fouled out. It was in the fifth inning when he received his curtain call, one that will certainly be on replay for years to come. Regarded as one of the most professional players to ever take the field for Major League Baseball, Wright had the opportunity to end his storied career on his own terms, and he did so, as the best position player in franchise history.
Besides the fact that one of the best home grown players to ever don a Mets uniform walked off of the field this evening, there was an interesting game that took place. On the mound for the Mets was Steven Matz, and the Long Island native that watched Wright when he was growing up posted a solid outing. The lefty went six innings, allowing three hits and striking out eight. Perhaps the most impressive part of Matz’s outing was the fact that he did not falter when he had the opportunity to do so. In the first inning, he was able to fight his way through a jam with runners on the base. My Gut Reaction is that if Matz wants to continue an upward trajectory moving forward, he’ll need to stay healthy and keep his cool on the mound. He was able to do both this season.
A scary moment happened in the bottom of the seventh. After securing a single, Brandon Nimmo seemed to have injured his hamstring rounding first base. He was removed from the game immediately, and will presumably be out of tomorrow’s lineup.
Austin Jackson walked the game off in the bottom of the thirteenth by driving in Michael Conforto by hitting a gap double.
The other notable hit on the evening came in the bottom of the first inning, when Jose Reyes doubled down the right field line, bringing back a certain nostalgic feeling from the days when him and Wright were forces at the top of the Mets lineup.
The Mets will play their final game of the season at Citi Field on Sunday. Noah Syndergaard will take the mound against Sandy Alcantara at 3:10 pm.
Citi Field was packed and had a playoff atmosphere. Most fans stayed to the bitter end to see David one last time. Immediately following Wright’s exit from the game, most fans stopped paying attention to the game and instead turned to face the broadcast booth where Wright was speaking with Keith, Gary and Ron. During the interview, Wright was waving to fans and signing everything he could find on the desk to hand out to fans, including Howie Rose’s media guide!
One negative thing to share on this otherwise great evening. If you ever have the chance to go to a game you know will be sold out, take mass transit. The parking situation was really created with the belief that most fans would either arrive by train or carpool but it seemed like all 43,000 fans plus all took their own cars because the lots, secondary lots and even quasi illegal lots were all completely full, and the local police had people circling the stadium and finally directing the cars to park far away on lawns and medians. Coming from NJ, it’s
really hard to coordinate NJT (limited wknd schedule) with LIRR connection but it still beats 2-3 hour traffic followed by the parking cluster duck. Same thing happened in last wild card game in 2016.
Unexpected highlight of the game for me was getting to meet Justin Dunn. The pitching prospect was sitting a few rows in front of me with his agents maybe. Not as tall as I expected, but a nice kid, humble. Looks so young, baby face.
Does anyone know if Mattingly gave an explanation as to why he had the infield play in with one out, Jose on third and DW at bat in the first inning? Keith was questioning it as it was happening. I’ve already checked the Miami Herald website but there was no mention of it.