A normal baseball game!
Morning Dose: Thursday, July 9
☀️ Good Morning:
So that’s what a normal baseball game feels like.
The Mets played nine innings, no errors were made, no memes are circulating the internet. They received a strong start, they built a lead and tacked on runs, and the bullpen decided it was better not to light themselves on fire.
All while three youngsters proved they could be part of a long-term solution.
Congratulations Mets Fans, we had a night we could feel good about our baseball team.
The Amazins have won three out of four behind a power-infused A.J. Ewing, who led-off Wednesday’s game with a home run, his third bomb during that stint.
He became the fifth different Met to hit a lead-off home run this season, not-so-ironically, a number they haven’t reached since the lovable ‘62 losers.
👶 KIDS ARE ALRIGHT: Ewing is on a 25-for-79 tear since the middle of June, with 11 extra-base hits and 17 RBI. And he’s not doing it alone. His fellow psychopath Carson Benge continues to rake with two more hits last night to give him 10 in his last 27 at-bats.
“It’s a dynamic outfield with young kids playing alongside the best hitter in the game, and the young kids play the game the right way,” interim manager Andy Green said before last night’s game. “I think a lot of people, from the scouts that found them to the people that coach them, helped those guys take steps forward, and now they belong in the outfield. They know it.”
🔥START ‘EM UP: Scoring has been the least of the Mets’ problems. Keeping the opponent off the scoreboard, or within single digits, has been the real challenge. Christian Scott finally brought stability to the mound by throwing five shutout innings, striking out five and walking only one. He took advantage of an aggressive Royals lineup to induce eight swinging strikes between his four-seamer and sweeper, while dotting the zone with a cutter and slider.
⏭️ UP NEXT: Sean Manaea will try to look like he did in Toronto in the rubber game this afternoon against Michael Wacha (5–6, 3.45).
📈 DEEP DIVE
LET’S GET BATY
Over the coming months, we will search for optimism each day by writing about the emergence of A.J. Ewing and Carson Benge, and the continued brilliance of Juan Soto. There are some good stories to this dreadful season.
But perhaps because I’m a glutton for punishment, I decided (once again) to dive into the impossible case of Brett Baty.
He has quietly built an eight-game hitting streak, literally recording a hit per game, save one two-hit performance after the holiday. His knock last night coming at the most opportune time to extend the Mets’ lead.
Overall, the numbers still tell a painful story: .218 batting average, .296 on-base percentage, .306 slugging percentage. No matter what your jumping off point might be, when your on-base and slugging are barely higher than your batting average, something isn’t going right at the plate.
⇢ So what is the issue? How has he improved recently?
