Talk about the planets aligning! These are things that happened Sunday night – Jeff McNeil hit a home run! The Mets won a one-run game! For the second straight Sunday, the Mets emerged victorious on an ESPN game! If you had that as your three-way parlay, it’s time for Gambler’s Anonymous. Regardless, the Mets broke their five-game losing streak with a 3-2 win over the Phillies.
Rich Hill became the latest starter annoyed with an early hook. But it was hard to argue too much with this decision. Well, let me rephrase – it wasn’t an extremely controversial decision to remove Hill, who had already thrown 86 pitches, had given up loud contact to the previous two batters and was set to face a guy who smoked an RBI double off him in the first inning.
What perhaps didn’t seem like the greatest choice at the time was to bring in Jeurys Familia with a runner on third base. But Familia struck out J.T. Realmuto to end the inning.
Dominic Smith pinch-hit for Familia in the bottom of the fifth and delivered a two-run double to tie the game.
Mets relievers struck out the next five Phillies, too. Trevor May struck out the side in the sixth inning and Seth Lugo fanned the first two in the seventh. Lugo allowed the next two batters to reach base and Luis Rojas called for Aaron Loup to face Bryce Harper. Loup walked Harper to load the bases but he retired Realmuto on a fielder’s choice to end the inning.
McNeil drilled a 417-foot homer to right to lead off the bottom of the seventh, giving the Mets their first lead in the series.
In a victory of sorts, Loup came out and pitched the eighth, keeping the lead intact. Edwin Diaz came on in the ninth inning and while the ESPN announcers hyperventilated about the need to avoid facing Harper – the fourth batter due up in the inning – Diaz got him to fly out harmlessly to McNeil in left field to end the game.
You mean this game was on ESPN and I missed it? Wait… can you get ESPN on YouTube? Can’t tell you how disappointed I am for missing the game… no, really, I can’t tell you
It’s a nice change of pace to hear another broadcast team cover the Mets. On Saturday it was Fox and Sunday ESPN. I prefer John Smoltz and even ARod to the Mets color commentators. Smoltz has just so much authority when it comes to pitching, I doubt you can find another person who knows as much with as much experience. Ron Darling is pretty good too with pitching, but I’m never sure when he is pandering to some unseen interest, which he is prone to do (he “gets along” with Gary at an almost sickening frequency).
And even ARod has some pretty good insights from his perch. Like him or not, he hit 600 homers and he tells you things that you can trust about the mentality of hitting. Keith, on the other hand, should retire… he’s a nice guy who adds very little to the broadcast. If I hear him point out that “level swing on that high pitch” or so and so “let go with one hand” one more time… he needs to stay home with his cat… everybody knows he just does it for the money… and the perks. He will never quit… they have to retire him.