California, here we come
🎧 Mets Fix Podcast: Episode 36
☀️ Good Morning:
Fresh off an exhilarating series win against first-place Baltimore — and a subsequent cross-country flight — the Mets passed their next test: a rock-solid 8–3 victory in the first game of the series against the red-hot Padres at Petco Park.
Luis Severino didn’t have his complete game shutout-type stuff, but he gritted his way through five one-run innings.
He benefited from excellent defense (a double play initiated by Jose Iglesias in the 5th was huge), and the Mets pen (Danny Young, Reed Garrett, Phil Maton) recorded three shutout, hitless innings when the game was tight (a 3–1 score) before the Mets added on five in the top of the 9th.
Huascar Brazobán continued his struggles with a chaotic two-run, 36-pitch 9th, but was able to finally close the game out.
Offensively, the Amazins struck early and late, with three runs in the first four frames, and the 9th inning explosion. Seven Mets had multiple hits, including Mark Vientos’s three RBI, Francisco Lindor’s two hits and runs, and a three-hit game for Pete Alonso.
The Braves won, too, so the Mets remain 1.5 games behind for the final wild-card spot. But they did clinch a season win against the Padres, in the event a postseason tiebreaker matters.
🎧 We dropped our latest episode of the MetsFix Podcast this morning. Flying solo right after last night’s game, Blake discusses the win, Luis Severino’s value to the team, Francisco Lindor’s magical season, and the Mets’ playoff chances moving forward.
Programming note: After a week away with the family, JB is back! You’ll see his dearly missed charts below — and he’ll be back at the helm on Monday.
☕️ Grab your coffee for your morning dose of Mets Fix!
📝 ROSTER MOVES: The Mets will activate reliever Dedniel Nunez today, Carlos Mendoza said. He wasn't added to the roster yesterday due to flight issues getting to New York.
📸 WILD-CARD SNAPSHOT: As we enter the stretch run, a new graphic! While on his cruise, JB whipped up a graphic to highlight the upcoming schedule of the teams immediately in front of and behind the Mets in the wild-card hunt.
The Braves have an easier path forward than the Mets, starting with the next three days when the Amazins continue their four-game series in San Diego while Atlanta plays host to the Nats.
Of course, a wildly successful weekend in Southern California could put the Padres in reaching distance for New York.
👨✈️ A captain in the making
In a must-read column posted yesterday by Jeff Passan of ESPN, Mets players and officials break down what has made Francisco Lindor such a special player and leader, particularly this season. And Lindor adds some revealing quotes of his own.
Read the whole thing, but here are some key excerpts about New York’s star shortstop:
🔷 MAKING THE ROUNDS: “Lindor flits around the New York Mets' clubhouse, stopping at the lockers of green rookies and grizzled veterans, players from the United States and Venezuela and Japan and Cuba and the Dominican Republic,” Passan writes. “It's his ritual now, one performed out of equal parts desire and duty. ‘I look forward to it every day,’ Mets left-hander Sean Manaea said. ‘The consistency, the positivity -- he really is like that every day.’”
🔷 GAINING MENDOZA’S RESPECT:
“I needed him to trust me and I needed to get to know him,” said [Carlos] Mendoza, who also offered Lindor the chance to focus on the field if he thought it would better serve him. “That was my biggest messaging [to him]: ‘I appreciate the fact that you want to be a leader, but you have a big job. You've got to play shortstop for the New York Mets every day.’
“What I didn't get is he can do it all. Everybody sees what's happening on the field, but the person, the father, the husband, the quality of the human that he is -- this guy is special, man. Everything is so detail oriented. The way he prepares is unbelievable. And he's to a place now where New York is home for him.”
🔷 PLAYERS-ONLY MEETING: “Meetings helmed by players, particularly during chaotic periods in a season, can devolve into meandering festivals of grievance,” Passan writes. “Lindor had gathered them anyway. He has struggled in the past knowing when to speak or how much to say, but this players-only get-together would hinge on his ability to keep a losing team focused -- and by then, he had earned their attention. All of the times patting his teammates' backs and making them laugh and lifting them up bought Lindor the ability to speak without coming off as a blowhard.”
“For him to sound the alarm is a tool that needs to be used in a very sparing way,” [Steve] Cohen said. “Otherwise, it gets tuned out. But he knows his team, he knows the people, he's at the stage in his life where he's seen a lot, there's a sense of emotional maturity and he's really thoughtful.”
🔷 KEEPING IT POSITIVE: “Earlier this month, after the Seattle Mariners held the Mets to one run in a three-game sweep, Lindor ‘is just walking around and saying: turn the page, enjoy the flight, enjoy your families, we'll get 'em Tuesday,’” Ottavino told Passan for his wide-ranging piece. ‘He is just hugging everybody, slapping five with everybody, making sure that we're all together. Because that's exactly who he is.’”
“Here we are in August and I'm trying to tell him, like, dude, you got to back up, back off a little bit,” Mendoza said of Lindor. “He's like, ‘No, I've got to show the way.’ I'm literally trying to do things like, let's show up a little later to the ballpark just to give the guys a little bit of a break. And he's the first one out there. He's the first one on the field. He's always taking batting practice; he's taking ground balls. I'm like, I'm thinking about giving you a day and it's like, ‘Monday is my day off, Mendy. I want Monday.’ Which is a scheduled off day for the team.”
Some key quotes from Lindor himself:
🔷 WORLD SERIES OR BUST: “I'm proud to be a New York Met. But my job is not done. I haven't done what it takes to win. We haven't won the World Series. So I don't want to say I've done my job to the ultimate end. I feel like not until the day we win, when I have the opportunity to give the trophy to Steve or Alex [Cohen] and say we did it, the job is not done. And then since we're in New York, nobody's going to care in the next year. So we got to go out and do it again.”
🔷 M-V-P: “He has found the sweet spot of personal and professional growth, embracing the responsibilities of being the face of a New York sports franchise while staying true to who he aspires to be,” Passan writes. “And with it have come the MVP chants at Citi Field, three letters that tell as much of a story about who he is as what he has done.”
“It brings a smile to my face because it would be a dream,” Lindor said, “but I understand we've still got a long way to go, and I've got to put up way better numbers. If the fans feel that way, it's fantastic. But I got to continue to climb. I got to continue to help the team win. MVPs are not won in June and July. MVPs are won in August and September.”
🗓️ UP NEXT: The Mets and Paul Blackburn (5-3, 4.19 ERA) try to jump ahead to a 2-0 series lead (and clinch at least a series tie) tonight, taking on renowned ear-rubber Joe Musgrove (3-4, 4.97 ERA) in the second of this four-game set.
🕷️ Find headlines for all of your favorite teams at SportSpyder, the number one source for sports news links.
◾️ The Reds signed Dom Smith to a major league contract, reuniting him with his old minor league teammate Amed Rosario, another recent acquisition. Both started for them last night.
◾️ Not very long after their demoralizing sweep of the Mets, the Mariners fired manager Scott Servais yesterday. They’ve won just 2 of their last 10.
◾️ Baltimore optioned left-hander Trevor Rogers to AAA, a few days after his shaky outing against the Mets.
◾️ The Dodgers designated Jason Heyward for assignment.
◾️ Jacob deGrom made his first rehab outing of the season for the Rangers’ AA affiliate. He touched 100 on the gun, and threw 2 innings with one run and 3 K’s.
📺 WATCH: Mets managers talk: Terry Collins & Carlos Mendoza interview each other by Mets Flip the Script: The skippers ask each other about their individual paths that landed them the job leading the Mets, what they learned from mentors like Jim Leyland and Dusty Baker, the passion of the fans in New York, adjustments they made as managers, and what they do away from the field.
🔗 No easy contract comps for Pete Alonso and Mets by Jon Heyman, NY Post: “None of the oft-cited Pete Alonso comps fits perfectly. Here’s two more: Alonso’s camp can cite Brandon Nimmo’s $162M deal and Eric Hosmer’s $144M deal to argue he should get more and much more, respectively."
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“renowned ear-rubber”—excellent.
Podcast was not monotonous - great stuff even without the back and forth.
Lindor needs to be announced as captain next spring training … maybe the same day they announce they’re retiring Wright’s jersey for the baseball romantics