Wake Up

The bats had been asleep all night, other than the occasional hit here and there. Jacob deGrom, fed up with the way he had been pitching, gave up an Adam Eaton 1st inning home run, and nothing thereafter. The look in his eye said all you needed to know. Enough was enough. And could we get a little strike-calling consistency from the home plate umpire, please?

Michael Owens/Getty Images
Photo via federalbaseball.com

The story, however, is not how the ump would sometimes call a strike just off the plate and sometimes call it a ball. The Mets looked listless for the majority of the game, albeit against one of the best pitchers in baseball, Max Scherzer, who I normally rib for being to0 home run prone. He kept the Mets in the ballpark all game, with their best opportunity coming in the 1st inning when they were gifted 2nd and 3rd and 1 out on a booted Robinson Cano-hit ball. The Nationals bullpen is so horrendous you know if you can just wait it out, you may have a chance. I don't think I'm alone, however, when I say that I thought the Mets were going to lose 1-0. No matter how much I believe and how optimistic I can be, it just felt like one of those games where the team was going to come up short.

The beautiful part of it all was that even though the Nats bullpen did their usual in the 8th, it was particularly sweet when the best chance they got, Sean Doolittle, came undone when brought in to get the 4-out save. First hitting Carlos Gomez, he faced Juan Lagares, who had not been too successful lately. None of that matters now, though, as Juan crushed a double that cleared the bases, giving us Mets fans a moment we all hope for from this team on a nightly basis. Some sort of life, some sort of spark, when our backs are against the wall, we overcome it all.

They weren't done, however, and a player I wanted almost a decade ago provided a grand Mets memory for his first AB as a New York Met. Called up to replace the injured Brandon Nimmo, Rajai Davis crushed almost over the Great Wall of Flushing but far enough to more or less seal the comeback deal. Just like that, the Mets are going for a 4-game sweep of the Washington Nationals today at 12:10.

It's the kind of early summer early start I so wish I could go to, but alas, I must deal with prior engagements. I'm not one to boycott, though my finances and schedule basically render that I cannot give the Wilpons my money right now anyway. I love this team, however, and I cannot be in the camp that want to see the Mets do badly just so the Wilpons are forced to sell. It's just unfortunately not the way it works, as sports teams toe that weird line between public interest and private venture. I would always rather see the team play the way they have the last 3 games, and I hope it continues all the way through the last Major League Baseball game of the 2019 season. I have my issues, I have my qualms, but what I also will always have is a love for the New York Mets.

Ya Gotta Believe indeed.

KEEP. ON. PUSHIN'.

LET'S. GO. METS.