The Mets jumped on top early in both games of the doubleheader against the Phillies Saturday night. They had to hold on for a 4-3 win in the opener but they had an 11-4 laugher in the nightcap. The Mets are now 6-6 versus the Phillies this season.
The Mets scored three runs in the first inning and tacked on a fourth in the second on a homer by Omar Narvaez against old pal Taijuan Walker. The offense went into hibernation after that early outburst. But while Tylor Megill was on the hill, the Phillies couldn’t do anything. Megill threw seven shutout innings and then was sent out for the eighth. But he was yanked after allowing two baserunners in the frame.
Brooks Raley relieved Megill and got the second out of the inning with a strikeout. Raley got the next batter to pop up to left field. But with both Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil done for the year, the Mets had Danny Mendick out in LF and he was unable to make the play, which allowed a run to score. Raley then struck out Bryce Harper to end the inning.
Adam Ottavino allowed two runs in the ninth inning and had the tying run on third base with one out. But he escaped further damage and the Mets emerged with the victory.
It took until the second inning in the nightcap before the Mets scored but they put up crooked numbers in the second, third and fourth innings. A three-run second included and RBI single by Brett Baty and a two-run homer by Francisco Alvarez.
It was more of the same in the third inning, as the Mets put up five runs this time, highlighted by a grand slam by Alvarez that made it 8-0.
While the Phillies cut the deficit in half in the fourth inning, the Mets rallied back for two more runs thanks to a two-run blast by Francisco Lindor.
Jose Quintana started the second game but needed 96 pitches to get thru four innings and did not qualify for what should have been an easy win. The Mets got stellar relief, with the pen providing five scoreless innings. Reed Garrett picked up the win with 3 IP and 4 Ks.
Winning is always fun. Glad to see the Baby Mets contributing but right before that granny, Vientos popped up a high outside 3-1 pitch and Baty struck out on a fastball down the pipe after fouling off the most hanging curveball ever and taking a previous fastball down the pipe for a strike. Alvarez didn’t miss his meatball!
Although not part of the Mets game, yesterday I was listening to another game that had a grand slam: Crawford of the Mariners against the Rangers, and that also put them up 8-0. The tone of two announcing teams: Mariners announcer was celebrating and calling for the rye bread for that grand salami. He must have said it three or four times. I switched to the Rangers audio and the announcer was just sick to his stomach. He said in a disgusted tone, “with the bases loaded Crawford is now 11-16. That’s ridiculous.” LOL, poor guy.
In a year where almost everything has gone wrong, they now win when they should be losing. Goodbye protected draft pick. Plus, the more I see of these “baby Mets,” the more uncertain I become.
Dan, the results are not finalized until the lottery. Besides, aside from the Angels who just refuse to win, the other teams are still trying also. The Mets are in the same exact spot as they were a month ago – 8th worse in MLB – but the Nats can’t be top 10, so the Mets are 7th worse. Wouldn’t karma be great if the Angels don’t get a good lottery draw?
While I want the Mets to have the lottery gods smile upon them, my hope is that it’s a team besides the Angels that gets foffed. Hasn’t that franchise suffered enough?
I respect a team like the Guardians more that picked up those guys and said, “we’re going to try”, than a team that obviously doesn’t want to.
Thanks for another recap. Megill pitched like we hoped he would all season. A lot of improvement in pitching the last 3-4 times around the rotation for most of the staff, but still looking to add two proven arms to the rotation given inevitable injuries. Big game by Alvarez and Lindor keeps reminding us how fortunate we are to have him anchor the infield. Quintana hit a wall in the 4th or maybe he just got Schwarberized. Schwarber is having a monster season despite an avg of 197 and 215K. Amazing they can bat him lead off with no speed and no SB. Might be coming around to avg not being all it cracks up to be. Butto today for the series sweep. If the Mets had won just 10 more games, not something difficult to do, they would be tied for the second wild card spot. 2024 is a retool, not a rebuild.