Francisco Lindor And Mets Show Some Fight

This was the type of game which had the potential to spell doom for the entire New York Mets season. That’s not hyperbole either.

With a bullpen game the other day and another one due tomorrow, David Peterson was bad. He would get knocked out of the second inning after allowing three runs on three hits and three walks.

It would’ve been worse, but Robert Gsellman bailed Peterson out. That said, he did allow a run in the third putting the Mets behind 4-0 with the Diamondbacks pitching Zac Gallen.

Even with Francisco Lindor reaching on an “infield single” and advancing to second on an Asdrubal Cabrera error in the third and scoring on a Michael Conforto single, things were not getting better.

Lindor got booed again even with his making another sterling defensive play.

The Mets did get another run off Gallen in the sixth. Gallen issued a leadoff walk to Pete Alonso, who advanced to second on a fielder’s choice. Jonathan Villar came up huge with an RBI single to cut it to 4-2.

After that, things got weird and dark. It started with a seemingly innocuous play where Jeff McNeil didn’t get out of Lindor’s way on what proved to be a Nick Ahmed single. After what was a scoreless inning, an altercation seemingly ensued:

Conforto and Dominic Smith went down the tunnel. McNeil eventually emerged with what looked like a swollen eye. With Lindor due up, you could see McNeil has swelling around his eye. That wouldn’t be Lindor’s last big hit that inning.

After Tomas Nido, who had been double switched into the game, earned a lead-off walk, Lindor would get his first Citi Field homer:

That homer as well as the Mets bullpen allowing just the one run over the final 8.1 innings and some good defense allowed the Mets to get to that 4-4 tie.

One key play came in the ninth. Edwin Diaz hasn’t been good in tied games or with runners on base. That’s what made Conforto throwing out Cabrera trying to stretch a single to a double all the more important.

Aaron Loup was up next in extra innings. Because of the ever changing rules, a runner started the inning at second. Despite that. Loup would would get out of the inning unscathed. The same wouldn’t be true for the Mets. Smith was intentionally walked to start the inning, and with two outs, Villar singled to load the bases. That set the stage for rookie Patrick Mazeika to get his first career RBI.

That’s a good and uplifting win. It also wasn’t one without drama. Specifically, the issue if the altercation came up. Lindor did his part to downplay it saying he and McNeil were trying to determine if there was a rat or raccoon. It was neither, but it allowed the Mets to move on from it when with all the questions.

Game Notes: Luis Guillorme will not return from the IL tomorrow as anticipated.

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20/20 Hindsight: Mets Not Offensive In Cardinals Split

The New York Mets traveled to St. Louis for a four game set with the Cardinals. How they got there was strange even for Mets standards:

1. Fly Chili Davis out to St. Louis. Fire him after scoring five runs (and losing). The same offensive ineptitude continues.

2. Being fair, it’s going to take more than a series to fix Davis impact. Regardless, the Mets handling of his firing was garbage.

3. At least Francisco Lindor snapped his 0-for-26 streak. His only longer streak was 2018 when he had his best ever offensive season.

4. Even with his struggles, Lindor has walked more than he’s struck out.

5. Speaking of walks, Michael Conforto walked six times in this series. It’s another indication just how much he’s locked in at the plate.

6. Taijuan Walker was completely locked in with the best non Jacob deGrom start of the year.

7. Walker again appears to be the steal of the offseason.

8. It’s way too soon to panic about deGrom. He knows his body, and he opted to be precautious. If he says he’s ready to go again soon, we can trust him.

9. Carlos Carrasco is a bigger issue. The team may not want to call it a setback, but it was.

10. Carrasco is emblematic of a larger issue. The Mets didn’t build sufficient starting pitching depth, and right now, they don’t have a fifth starter. It’s another reason why when with Sean Reid-Foley‘s early season success, the Steven Matz trade made little sense.

11. For some bizarre reason, the Mets have a lot more trust and faith in Joey Lucchesi than Jordan Yamamoto. That’s even with Yamamoto performing better against the Cardinals than Lucchesi.

12. Marcus Stroman is a warrior. He was willing to take the ball on short rest with a hamstring injury, and he performed well in a snakebitten start.

13. It seemed all Kevin Pillar needed to get going was to get some playing time. He’s really stepped up in Brandon Nimmo‘s absence.

14. With Trevor May and Aaron Loup putting their poor first appearances behind them, the Mets bullpen has been unstoppable, and that’s before Seth Lugo returns from injury.

15. Tomas Nido is having a great season. In limited duty, he has hit and framed well. If he keeps this up, he may soon put pressure on James McCann to get some more playing time.

16. In addition to his hitting again, Jeff McNeil has certainly looked very good at second. It’s early but that 3 DRS is a great mark.

17. It’s incredible to think Albert Pujols was released. On that note, and to a lesser extent, the Mets face a similar dilemma with Robinson Cano next year.

18. It’s way too soon to seriously suggest Luis Rojas is on the hot seat. The Mets are fine, and they’ll soon start putting distances between themselves and the rest of the NL East.

19. The state of umpiring is at its worst. We saw it when they had no idea as to the rules about use of an interpreter. By the way, just allow a player to use an interpreter.

20. Not sure how they’re going to handle the vaccinated/non-vaccinated and other issues, but it will be great to see large crowds at games again.

Game Recaps

Mets Front Office Hurts Mets Chances Of Winning

Mets Split Bizarre Doubleheader

Taijuan Walker’s Brilliance Offsets Mets Inept Offense

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Taijuan Walker’s Brilliance Offsets Mets Inept Offense

With the way the New York Mets offense is going, they need brilliant pitching performances to win games. They got that and then some from Taijuan Walker.

If not for Jonathan Villar throwing away a double play ball in the second, there’s no chance the Sr. Louis Cardinals score a run. That unearned run is all the Cardinals would score. In fact, they wouldn’t see another base runner.

The only thing which stopped him was his hitting 92 pitches. Really, nothing else was stopping him. He was that brilliant. Just one hit with no walks while striking out eight.

Put it another way, he had no-hit stuff.

With this being the Mets, it couldn’t be easy. Not this offense. In fact, they’d set a Mets record for futility stranding 17 runners on base.

SEVENTEEN!

The Mets had an opportunity to get that run back in the third, but Gary Disarcina and the Mets offense got in the way.

Jeff McNeil hit a lead-off single, and he moved to second on a Michael Conforto walk. With one out, Pete Alonso hit what should’ve been a game tying single, but Disarcina held him up.

That hold looked even worse when Harrison Bader‘s throw was offline and short. Compounding the problem was Smith strikeout and Pillar flying out.

The Mets wouldn’t crack through until the fifth, and that’s because John Gant, who was arguably better than Walker over the first four innings, got wild.

After Pete Alonso reached on a rare Nolan Arenado error, Gant walked the next four Mets. The walks to Villar and James McCann each forced home a run giving the Mets a 2-1 lead.

Despite Gant losing it, the Mets couldn’t further cash in. Walker struck out and then Jeff McNeil grounded out.

It was the same situation in the eighth except this time it was against the Cardinals bullpen. The Mets loaded the bases, and Alonso walked to force home the third run.

They FINALLY got a bases loaded hit when Dominic Smith hit an RBI single, but it would only score one. That’s where it ended.

Kevin Pillar popped out. Villar struck out. McCann flew out. It was 4-1, and Walker was done. Fortunately, the Mets didn’t need more runs.

Trevor May pitched a perfect inning. Edwin Diaz walked a tightrope allowing Paul Goldschmidt and Arenado come to the plate as the tying runs.

Goldschmidt flew out, and Arenado grounded out. With that, the Mets earned a split of the four game series, and they had a winning road trip where Jacob deGrom didn’t pitch.

All-in-all, despite all that’s gone wrong and with all the drama, not too bad. It’s now time for the Mets to start putting together a big stretch.

Game Notes: The Mets wouldn’t call it a setback, but Carlos Carrasco was moved to the 60 day IL. Lindor snapped an 0-for-26 stretch with a ninth inning single. Even with that, Lindor has walked more than he struck out this season.

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Keith Hernandez Reminder Mets Need Better Attention To Own Hall Of Fame

During this series between the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals, it was announced Keith Hernandez will FINALLY be inducted into the Cardinals Hall of Fame. It didn’t exactly go great:

The Edward Jones advertisement being larger than Hernandez’s name is embarrassing. Then again, at least the Cardinals are attending to their Hall of Fame.

The Cardinals have an official committee, and they have fan votes to determine who belongs in their Hall of Fame. More than that, they actually have a Hall of Fame.

When Citi Field first opened, there was some lip service to the Mets Hall of Fame. As time progressed, and the impact of Madoff continued, we saw the Team Store push into and completely overwhelm the Mets Hall of Fame.

Aside from that, there’s been a serious lack of attention to inducting new members. The last member inducted was Mike Piazza in 2013. That’s unacceptable.

Right now, 13 of the top 24 Mets by WAR have not been inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame. Put another way, most of the best players in team history have not been recognized.

That includes Edgardo Alfonzo and Al Leiter. That’s shocking with Alonzo being the best second baseman in team history, and with Leiter being the only Mets pitcher to win a play-in game.

It’s more than that. Bobby Valentine led the Mets to consecutive postseasons. Johan Santana had many great moments including the first and only no-hitter in Mets history. There’s also Nelson Doubleday who purchased the Mets and brought in the right people leading to the best run in Mets history.

Point is, the Mets Hall of Fame is severely lacking. Case-in-point. David Wright has not yet been inducted. We can argue over retiring his number, but his not being in the Mets Hall of Fame is absurd.

The Mets need to have Wright and others in the team Hall of Fame. For that matter, there needs to be a real Mets Hall of Fame.

This is a franchise with real history and great moments. It’s well past time it’s celebrated and properly honored. The Mets need a real and proper Hall of Fame. Hopefully, it will happen soon.

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Mets Split Bizarre Doubleheader

The first game of the doubleheader between the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets was just an ugly game. Really, almost everything about it was bad.

The Mets were 0-for-5 with RISP leaving five men in baseball. That’s really just the tip of the iceberg.

The Mets loaded the bases in the fourth wig no outs. They only scored one run on a James McCann fielder’s choice. On the play, Nolan Arenado fielded the ball while stepping on the bag simultaneously.

After that, Jonathan Villar and Albert Almora struck out to end what was the Mets only rally of the game.

Of course, no discussion of that fourth inning is complete without discussing the Kwang Hyun Kim interpreter controversy and ensuing roughly 10 minutes of deliberations and replay.

Cardinals catcher Andrew Knizer went to the mound to talk with Kim, and Kim’s interpreter came from the dugout to the mound. Later in the inning, the interpreter joined Mike Maddux, Luis Rojas correctly pointed out that was technically a second mound visit necessitating Kim be removed from the game.

The umpires blew the call because they didn’t know the rules, and the replay officials got it wrong even when they informed them of the rule, they let Kim stay in the game.

Sadly, Marcus Stroman, who was making a start on a sore hamstring, made the mistake of allowing two earned runs.

The first was a Paul Goldschmidt first inning homer. In the third, Arenado had an RBI single. That’s all the runs the Cardinals would need.

The final score was 4-1 as Francisco Lindor threw a ball away with two outs, and Paul DeJong continued being a Mets killer by hitting a two run homer.

While we wouldn’t see the Mets offense respond to the Chili Davis firing in the first game, we would in the second.

After a scoreless first where we saw the Mets use Miguel Castro as an opener, the Mets bats would put runs on the board for Castro and Jordan Yamamoto, who was making his first Mets appearance.

Dominic Smith started a rally against Cardinals starter Johan Oviedo with a lead-off single. He’d move to third on a Kevin Pillar double.

With respect to Pillar, he’s really stepped up when the Mets needed it most. Their best hitter, Nimmo, was injured and finally hit the IL. Since Nimmo has gone down, Pillar is 8-for-16 with four runs, a double, two homers, and four RBI.

After two quick outs, you were left wondering if the Mets would ever score. That made Oviedo’s wild pitch allowing Smith to score a relief. What was even better was Tomas Nido‘s ensuing two run homer:

The Cardinals had a chance to respond in the second. Former Met Ali Sanchez doubled, and Oviedo tried to help his own cause, but Pillar would gun down Sanchez.

Villar increased the Mets lead to 4-0 with a solo homer in the fourth.

The Cardinals put a rally together in the fourth. Yamamoto hit Tyler O’Neill to start the inning, and he’d be on second with two outs when the Mets went to the bullpen.

Aaron Loup relieved Yamamoto, and he’d allow an inherited runner to score on a Dylan Carlson pinch hit RBI single. Things were getting dangerous after a Tommy Edman single, but Loup would retire Matt Carpenter to get out of the inning.

After the Cardinals scored one in the bottom of fourth, the Mets would get one back and then some in the fifth.

What was impressive was the Mets delivered with two outs again. With runners on first and second and two outs, Pillar and Villar hit consecutive RBI singles to increase the Mets lead to 6-1.

Villar, the surprise starter at short had a very good game. In addition to the two RBI, he’d later make a very good play in the hole.

From there, Trevor May pitched a scoreless fifth, and Robert Gsellman allowed one run in the sixth.

With Bernardo Flores Jr. wild, the Mets took advantage loading the bases and scoring a run on a Pillar RBI groundout.

The Mets sent Jeurys Familia to the mound to close out the five run lead. Even though such an act was impossible earlier in the week for Edwin Diaz, Familia took care of business securing the 7-2 win.

In a bizarre series of games, the Mets secured a split of the doubleheader, and they are in position to split the series with a win tomorrow. That closes out a wild 72 hours.

Game Notes: Sean Reid-Foley was the Mets 27th man for the doubleheader. Lindor is hitless over his last 24 at-bats, the second worst stretch in his career. Brandon Nimmo was put on the IL between games with Patrick Mazeika getting called up off the taxi squad. Keith Hernandez was inducted into the Cardinals Hall of Fame.

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Pete Alonso Did Not Get Chili Davis Fired

In some ways, the Chili Davis firing was a surprise. After all, you don’t fly a hitting coach out to a city and fire him after one game. You also don’t see it happen just as the team starts scoring runs again.

On the other hand, this was not a surprising move in the least. Even with the recent surge, the New York Mets overall offensive performance was dismal, and Francisco Lindor still has not hit yet.

There’s another factor here as well – Zack Scott. The Mets interim GM was part of the Boston Red Sox analytics department. For years, we’ve heard how Davis’ approach and the more analytical approach doesn’t jive, and to that end, we see a disconnect which usually results in the coach getting fired.

Unfortunately, none of that was a sufficient explanation. There were reporters who went to Peter Alonso and his Donnie Stevenson joke as either a root cause or contributing factor.

For those who forgot, Alonso jokingly indicated Donnie was the reason for the breakout. Everyone knew it was a joke, and even Steve Cohen joined in the fun:

Here’s the problem. People can’t let fun things be just that.

Mike Puma of the New York Post asked Davis about it and the role in his firing. He “chuckled” at it, and he said:

It was a fun time for them, but it probably didn’t help. People were just trying to loosen up as a group and it worked that night. They went out and put some runs on the board. I am all for them enjoying the game

According to Davis, he thought it was a fun thing, and in the interview, he noted he believes he’d still have the job if Lindor was hitting. To a certain extent, the fact that Davis did speak to it not helping matters did make it a bit of a fair game to ask Alonso and the other players about it.

There’s just one problem with that. Before speaking with Davis or Alonso, that question had already been posed to Scott when he made himself available to the media after the firing. When pressed on the Donnie Stevenson angle, Scott had replied:

I think that should highlight that this isn’t about recent results. This is about the process behind the scenes. Whether we’re not hitting with runners in scoring position or knocking 17 hits or whatever we had last night, it’s not about that. It’s too early to be overreacting to small samples of results. It’s really about what the daily process is and the assessment — my assessment from doing a lot of research and observations of my own was that we can be better and this is a step towards that.

Put another way, this was about “process.” It didn’t have to do with Alonso’ creation of Donnie Stevenson and the players having some fun with that. It also really didn’t have to do with Lindor not hitting. This was a GM who had been involved in the firing of Davis in Boston, and as the GM, he once again had an issue with Davis’ process, and he once again took part in his firing.

Despite Scott speaking to that, there were articles written about the Donnie Stevenson effect, and then Alonso was asked about it. Aside from the effect the link had already been dismissed, Alonso was surprisingly candid in his responses, and he was obviously emotional about it. Despite that, Alonso was asked about the impact he had on the firing even after the obviously tenuous link had been dismissed.

To even suggest Alonso had a part in the firing of Davis is extraordinarily unfair, and frankly, it’s a cheap shot levied at a person who was honest and emotional about the firing. Alonso deserved much better than that, and anyone suggesting the player who started off the year with a 142 wRC+ to start the season had any impact on Davis being fired owes Alonso an apology.

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Mets Mishandled Chili Davis Firing in Willie Randolph Fashion

Look, it was only a matter of time before Chili Davis was going to be fired as the New York Mets hitting coach. If you’ve followed his career, his approach doesn’t work, and teams are better when they move past him.

Baseball has moved past his philosophies. His tutelage results in an increase of ground balls, decrease in homers, and an increase in strikeouts. It’s a disaster.

We saw the Mets falling into the same traps, and there was no juiced ball to bail them out. It certainly didn’t help Davis’ case Francisco Lindor, a traditional slow starter, had one of his worst ever starts.

There was also Zack Scott’s elevation to GM. As noted by Michael Mayer, Scott was with the Boston Red Sox when they fired Davis. A large part of that was his “old school” philosophies and their resulting decrease in offense.

Firing Davis was absolutely the correct decision. The Mets could ill afford to continue to hold back their team. They needed to make the change.

They needed to make the change on Wednesday when they ended their homestand. They needed to make the change when the Mets prepared to depart Philadelphia, which is in driving distance to New York, to head to St. Louis.

Instead, the Mets opted to fire Davis after the team flew to St. Louis. They made him go through all that extra COVID19 screening and protocols only to fire him immediately thereafter.

It’s cruel and unnecessary, and it’s how inept front offices operate. It’s like when the Mets run by the Wilpons fired Willie Randolph one game into a West coast trip. That was a low moment for the Mets.

St. Louis isn’t Los Angeles by any means. However, it’s still a flight. It was unnecessary to have him on that flight if the intention was to fire him. The Mets had the notion they were firing Davis soon, and they should’ve done it before he got on that plane.

Hopefully, this will be the last time the Mets act in a way reminiscent of the way the Wilpons ran things. This should be the last time it ever happens because it’s unacceptable.

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Mets Front Office Hurts Mets Chances To Win

Honestly, the New York Mets lost this game when the front office made a baffling decision. The St. Louis Cardinals are dangerous against left-handed pitching, and they relatively struggle against right-handed pitching.

Knowing that, the Mets decided to call-up Joey Lucchesi to make the start. Not Jordan Yamamoto, who has good numbers against the Cardinals. They didn’t even look to pitch Robert Gsellman or Sean Reid-Foley.

No, they went with Lucchesi, and it backfired spectacularly. Keep in mind, the Mets offense handed Lucchesi a 5-2 lead heading into the third.

In the second, Adam Wainwright got wild. With runners on first and second and one out, Mike Shildt made the odd choice to intentionally walk Jonathan Villar to load the bases.

That decision backfired as Wainwright plunked Tomas Nido to force in a run. After striking out Lucchesi, Wainwright walked Jeff McNeil to force home a second run.

The rally ended there as Francisco Lindor struck out to end the inning. Again, Lindor’s struggles at the plate continue. However, his defense remains as magnificent as ever:

The Mets would get back at it in the third starting with a Michael Conforto lead-off walk. After Pete Alonso hit his second double of the game, Dominic Smith drove home a run with an RBI groundout. Kevin Pillar followed with his second homer in as many days:

With a 5-2 lead, Lucchesi retired the first two batters he faced in the third. He then completely fell apart.

After allowing back-to-back singles to Dylan Carlson and Paul Goldschmidt, Lucchesi would surrender a game tying three run homer to Nolan Arenado. For some odd reason, Luis Rojas didn’t have anyone ready to relieve him.

Paul DeJong would continue being a Mets killer hitting a double. He’d then score on a Tyler O’Neill RBI double. With that, the 5-2 lead became a 6-5 deficit, and Lucchesi would be out of the game.

The real shame is Gsellman (2.1 IP) and Reid-Foley were terrific (2.0) over 4.1 scoreless innings. They’d combine to allow just two hits while walking none and striking out four.

When you throw in Jacob Barnes, the bullpen pitched 5.1 scoreless. Converse that with Lucchesi who allowed at least one run over each of the first three innings.

Both bullpens did their job not allowing any runs after that third inning. Of course, that meant the decision to start Lucchesi was the big factor which cost the Mets this game.

It’s a shame because the Mets scored five runs, played good defense, and pitched well in the pen. Someone should be accountable for that, but instead, Rojas will have to face the criticism for it.

Game Notes: J.D. Davis was put on the 10 day IL. Stephen Tarpley was called up to take his place.

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20/20 Hindsight: Phillies Awaken Mets

There are ebbs and flows to the season, and the New York Mets were fighting it. Fortunately, Jose Alvarado and the Philadelphia Phillies were there to help them out:

1. Alvarado is a punk. He throws at batters. He talks a good game, but when he’s confronted, he goes hiding behind teammates.

2. Dominic Smith announced to the world he and the Mets will not be pushed around. Unlike Alvarado, Smith would back it up.

3. Before the Alvarado nonsense, he fell to a paltry .206/.225/.324. After that, he’s 4-for-9 with two doubles.

4. As much as he’s heated up, it’s Michael Conforto carrying the Mets offense. He hit the huge go-ahead homer, and he’s hitting .327/.400/.551 over his last 14 games. It’s like he’s always been this good, and we shouldn’t have overreacted to a slump.

5. Jeff McNeil looked awfully comfortable batting lead-off.

6. Pete Alonso had his own take on why the Mets have started hitting – Donnie Stevenson. Stevenson is apparently a mix of Sidd Finch and that mustachioed man who looked like Bobby Valentine.

7. Mets need McNeil’s ability leading off if Brandon Nimmo is more hurt than originally expected.

8. Mets are also going to need to see Kevin Pillar step up. His game in the series finale with the big homer was a great start.

9. Jonathan Villar‘s scoring from first was an incredible and shocking play. We haven’t really seen a Mets player make a difference in a game with pure speed since Jose Reyes‘ first stint with the team.

10. Villar running the bases is like what we used to see from Daniel Murphy except with speed.

11. Edwin Diaz continues to both be great and completely unreliable.

12. Considering Diaz has issues going consecutive days, pitching with runners on base, and the like, it might be time to start considering him more for a set-up role.

13. Diaz faltered because he faltered. That’s not Luis Rojas‘ fault. Not everything that goes wrong with this team is Rojas’ fault.

14. The Mets can consider that because Jeurys Familia seems back to form. We saw that again with his big strikeout of Bryce Harper and resulting save. He and replay really bailed out Diaz.

15. You can’t kill Miguel Castro for having one poor outing. He’s been phenomenal all year. Really, the Mets pitching as a whole has been.

16. The Mets seemingly are getting nicked up of late. At the moment, Marcus Stroman‘s hamstring is the biggest issue. Hopefully, the reports he’ll be alright prove true.

17. David Peterson has been pretty good, but he needs to be more than a five and fly pitcher.

18. Taijuan Walker increasingly looks like the steal of the offseason.

19. Francisco Lindor is going to be fine, and while we await his bat, we can just enjoy what is just truly special defense.

20. Mets are just starting to get going, and they’re already in first place. It’s going to be a great May and an even better year.

Game Recaps

Phillies Awoke a Sleeping Giant

Clutch Conforto

Mets Make Alvarado and Hoskins Pay

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Mets Make Alvarado And Hoskins Pay

This had all the makings of a New York Mets brutal Sunday Night Baseball loss. They weren’t hitting, and they blew a late lead . . .

Entering the bottom of the sixth, David Peterson was in line for the win. He had allowed one run on four hits and two walks with eight strikeouts. Really, he cruised along after allowing an Andrew McCutchen to start the first.

Now, Peterson did get some help with Jeff McNeil and Francisco Lindor performing pure defensive magic behind him. That included one beauty of a double play:

Peterson had that 2-1 lead because of his defense. He also had some help from the offense. The first run came when Conforto singled home McNeil in the third.

Notably, McNeil was batting lead-off with Brandon Nimmo unavailable. With McNeil returning to a familiar and comfortable spot in the lineup, he was much better at the plate going 4-for-6 with two runs and a double.

It was a double again that got the Mets going again in the sixth. Dominic Smith led off the inning with a double, and there were runners at the corners with no outs after a Kevin Pillar single.

After Jonathan Villar struck out, the Phillies had the opportunity to get out of the inning unscathed with a double play. James McCann obliged by hitting the require grounder, but Phillies starter Zack Eflin threw it wide to second allowing everyone to reach safely and for the go ahead run to score.

The Mets would load the bases with two outs with Lindor coming to the plate. Lindor would fly out to right leaving behind a golden chance to blow the game open.

Keep in mind, that wasn’t their only shot to put up more runs. Back in the second, Smith led off the inning with a single, and Gary Disarcina needlessly sent him home on a Pillar single. Smith was out at the plate, and J.T. Realmuto would deliver a cheap shot.

The Mets would regret blowing those run scoring opportunities in the bottom of the sixth.

Now, the Mets bullpen has been great with a 19 inning scoreless streak. Miguel Castro has been one of the Mets best pitchers in the pen, but he didn’t have it tonight.

On a rally started when Castro made an error, Didi Gregorius hit a go-ahead three run homer. At 4-2, it seemed like the Mets might be done.

In fact, they weren’t. The momentum shifted when Pillar homered to lead off the eighth:

This was easily Pillar’s best game as a Met. The player who struggled so mightily to start the season stepped up in Nimmo’s absence. In addition to the homer, he was 3-for-5.

As good as Pillar was, no one was ready for what Villar would do. Villar singled off Brandon Kintzler to start off the rally. With no one really left on the bench, partially due to injuries, Jose Peraza pinch hit for Castro. Peraza hit one Rhys Hoskins couldn’t handle, and well, Hoskins misplayed it just about every way you could:

Villar scored all the way from first on an infield single to tie the game at 4-4. That’s when the Phillies brought in Jose Alvarado to try to keep the game tied.

What’s interesting is Alvarado was suspended for his antics the other day. However, he was able to appear in the game because he appealed that three game suspension. As it turned out, the Phillies probably wish he accepted that suspension.

Alvarado faced McNeil, Lindor, and Conforto, and he failed to get any of them out. McNeil singled, and then Alvarado issued consecutive walks forcing home the go-ahead run.

The Mets were up 5-4, and Pete Alonso faced Phillies reliever David Hale. He’d go the opposite way for a three run double giving the Mets an 8-4 lead.

Now, Luis Rojas had Edwin Diaz warming when the Mets initially got the lead. After getting him up, it made little sense to not use him. Instead, Rojas (justifiably) believed his closer would lock down the much needed win.

Well, Diaz imploded, and it started with a leadoff walk to Gregorius.

Roman Quinn tripled him home to bring the Phillies to within three. Diaz was on the verge of getting out of it, and then he issued a two out walk to Matt Joyce. That brought Hoskins to the plate representing the tying run . . .

What was a game tying home run was ruled to be a ground rule double. That meant instead of a tie game, the Mets still had a lead at 8-7.

Things were still dire with the tying run in scoring position. It was all the more so with Diaz hurt. That led to Jeurys Familia coming on to face Bryce Harper to earn the save.

In a flashback to 2015, Familia delivered by striking out Harper. With that, the Mets won a game they blew twice (or almost twice), and they find themselves not only back at .500, but also delivering a message to the Phillies.

Game Notes: Jacob Barnes earned his first win as a Met. This was Familia’s first save with the Mets since 2018.

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