20/20 Hindsight: Mets Sweep Orioles
After sweeping the Arizona Diamondbacks, the New York Mets swept the Baltimore Orioles to complete a perfect 5-0 homestand:
1. What’s the over/under on game winning RBI Patrick Mazeika gets before finally collecting his first Major League hit?
2. Mazeika is the first player with two walk-off RBI in his first four games, and it’s been well over a century before someone had multiple walk-offs before a hit.
3. Mazeika is why Old Timer’s Days are great. Some random player who most of baseball history will overlook gets to come back to a huge ovation and be treated like a legend.
4. That sentiment may apply perfectly to Mike Baxter.
5. Players and plays like this are a testament that you need contributions from up and down your roster. The Mets are getting that and then some right now.
6. Certainly, it helps the Mets experienced those injuries during a soft spot in their schedule. Then again, in years past when they didn’t have players like Kevin Pillar on the bench, they would fall completely apart anyway.
7. One annoying GKR trait is when a player like Pillar makes a good defensive play, they’ll mock defensive metrics.
8. We can talk about a number of reasons why the Mets are doing well, but defense is front and center. This has gone from a dreadful defensive team to a top 12 team.
9. When you’re playing good defense, your pitching can shine, and you only need four runs per game. When the Mets hit that mark, they’re 15-2.
10. If Jeff McNeil really only had cramps, and this front office has actually been upfront about injuries, the Mets dodged a huge bullet.
11. Albert Almora‘s collision with the wall is one of the scariest you’ll see. And yes, he did catch that ball.
12. It’s amazing after all the years of Jeff Wilpon laying waste to careers like Pedro Martinez, Ryan Church, Jason Bay, and many more with his playing doctor, people like Buster Olney only now take issue with the Mets handling injuries with Jacob deGrom landing on the IL.
13. We’re truly living in bizarre times when deGrom is on the IL, and Matt Harvey is pitching at Citi Field.
14. Harvey deserved each and every one of those standing ovations, and it was wonderful to hear how much it meant to him. Certainly, he meant the world to us.
15. Dominic Smith has started hitting again, and not a moment too soon with that clutch game tying RBI.
16. Contrary to previously held beliefs, Michael Conforto is indeed clutch.
17. Taijuan Walker continues to pitch great, and he’s probably been the best free agent starter. That said, he embarrasses the game of baseball when he doesn’t even try at the plate.
18. Marcus Stroman continues to be phenomenal both on the mound and as a fielder. As we’ve seen, he’s an even better teammate.
19. With deGrom, Stroman, and Walker, the Mets have three of the top seven in ERA.
20. The sting of Jarred Kelenic getting called up and the sheer stupidity of all things Brodie Van Wagenen will dull if the Mets keep playing like this.
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