Don't Benge against him

Morning Dose: Tuesday, August 18

☀️ Good Morning:

I remember where I was sitting, along the same left-field line in the mezzanine section of Shea Stadium, when Rey Ordoñez gunned down a helpless Cardinals runner from his knees.

That happened at the beginning of what would turn out to be another nothing season, the sixth straight defined by more losses than wins.

But I remember that play, as I’m sure readers of this newsletter do as well.

Carson Benge gave us two of those plays in succession last night.

The Padres ignoring the scouting reports to send one runner:

And on the very next play, another runner:

As Nolan McLean continues to blossom into a stud on the mound, the young Benge is throwing his own kind of heat from right field. A 99.9 mph dart to nail Cronenworth, followed by a Jacob-Misiorowski 103.9 mph laser to erase Machado.

📚 Benge made all kinds of history with those two throws. He became the first player in franchise history to throw out two runners at the plate in the same inning. His 103.9 mph throw was the third-hardest outfield assist in the Statcast era (since 2015), and the first with two 99+ mph assists in the same inning and only the second to do so in the same game.

“I just looked up and threw the ball. I’m not worried that they are running or not,” Benge said, via MLB. “I try to throw as hard as I can to be able to make them stop or get them out. … I feel like anytime anyone makes a good throw to end an inning or have a quicker out, it shifts the momentum in our favor.”

The Mets shifted the momentum in their favor again in the second inning when A.J. Ewing showed why you shouldn’t run on him either.

🤔 What were the Padres thinking? “Credit to them, they made some really good throws to home plate,” Padres manager Craig Stammen told reporters after the game. “We had three chances to score and they got us for every single one. Our mentality is to be aggressive on the basepaths, make the other team make a play. Tonight, they made the plays.”

The 2026 Mets are making plays. Run prevention is no longer a punch line. Not with Benge and Ewing in the corners. The two have combined for 14 outfield assists. Benge ranks fourth overall with nine.

🍎 ANOTHER W: The capture-the-flag approach to protecting home plate allowed McLean to navigate through six innings while allowing only one run. The bullpen took over from there, using up-and-coming arms Jonathan Pintaro and Nate Lavender, along with Daniel Duarte to get the job done.

That’s 10 wins since the trade deadline. They’ve only played 13 in that time.

Forget the standings, it’s August 18 and the Mets are exciting to watch.

👏 If you weren’t lucky enough to be there last night or missed the telecast, do yourself a favor and play this clip. There is an energy at Citi Field that feels more like late September in a pennant race than the dog days of August during a lost season.

Listen to the final out

It’s a reminder that baseball is as much about finding youthful joy as it is about counting things on a ledger.

While the sport’s model franchise finds its owner under investigation, as Kyle Tucker goes hitless and catchless in the outfield and Edwin Díaz can’t even pitch a stress-free inning in an 11–2 game, the Amazins are playing free and easy.

It’s not to say fans would take this Mets team over the Dodgers. Of course not. But if you’ve allowed yourself to be a kid again, the one that originally fell in love with this franchise, tell me, at least for these past few weeks, it hasn’t been more fun to watch the beginnings of a new core developing that it would be watching the weighty expectations of an overpriced roster like this:

My 12-year-old self still remembers that Opening Day when Ordoñez introduced himself as the next defensive wizard. That ‘96 season proceeding one of the most exciting stretches of contending baseball in my lifetime. Let’s hope someday we look back on this season, on Benge’s plays on Monday, in the same way.

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Before you go…

▪️ Andy Green’s future unchanged. Despite reversing the club’s fortunes since taking over as interim manager, the plan remains for Green to return to the front office next season. “My expectation, Andy’s expectation, is he’s going to rejoin the front office, and I have no reason to believe otherwise right now,” David Stearns told reporters on Monday.

▪️ One-run games. The Mets have won three straight one-run games for the first time since 2023. Their misfortune in close games a big reason they find themselves where they are in the standings. Even with the three latest wins, they are still only 14–20 in one-run affairs.

▪️ Captain McLean. With the help of his defense, McLean worked through a rocky start to complete six innings of one-run ball. He has completed at least six innings in 10 of his last 11 outings and has allowed two or fewer runs in 12 of his last 14. Over those 14 starts, he has pitched to a 2.55 ERA, which is the sixth-best in the National League over that span.

▪️ Milestone Watch: Bo Bichette recorded his 500th career RBI when he gave the Mets a 1–0 lead in the first. He has hit safely in seven of his last eight games, while batting .345 (20-58) with 10 RBI and an .940 OPS in August.

▪️ How Mets outfielders Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing became game changers with their arms: by Tim Britton, The Athletic ($): “Benge, who could throw fastballs at 95 mph and faster in college, has always had the arm to be a weapon in right field. But since being drafted, he has refined his approach to fielding balls and has quickened his exchange.”

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