You must give it to them. These Mets are like bloodhounds.
They can almost smell wins coming.
And today, the Amazin’s sniffed out a 4-3 win in 10 innings, after losing the lead in the top of the tenth.
“You can sense it,” said manager Mickey Callaway, who is in just as much disbelief. “These guys believe in themselves.”
But even more than the “Ya gotta believe” mantra, the Mets are playing almost a divine hand. The Cleveland Indians are not a team that makes mistakes, but the mental errors came out in the 10th. The game would have been over, if Brad Hand covered first on Michael Conforto’s double play ball.
And then Wilson Ramos gunned it down the line on a little dribbler. According to Statcast, it was the fastest they clocked him this year at 4.65.
Things like this happen to teams of destiny and the Mets, who had two of these magic games against the Nationals at Citi Field, now have one against the Indians.
For those keeping score at home, that’s three of the last five games at Citi that can be considered miracles.
And let’s not forget two shirts ripped off players’ backs. Today it’s J.D. Davis who was stripped by Pete Alonso on the walk-off. Who can blame him? “Let the kids play,” as Callaway said.
They are playing today for sure. The Mets are on all cylinders. No longer are they just beating up on bad teams. They are beating up on every team, especially in Flushing. Winning 12 of 13 games at home and now 10 of 12 series wins in the second half.
The difference? Well Callaway sees one major change. The bullpen is pitching up to snuff.
“When our bullpen started performing that’s when things turned,” he said and you can look to when the Mets got major league pitchers like Justin Wilson and Luis Avilan back from the IL, but new pitching coach is correcting the mistakes of the first half as well.
Tonight, the Mets needed their bullpen, because Marcus Stroman left the game with hamstring tightness after four. Jeurys Familia came in and was sharp. Brad Brach gave up a run but looks like he was getting back on track. And Wilson and Seth Lugo were the anchors.
You can’t complain about Avilan, either. Sure, he gave up the go-ahead, but he had 13 scoreless before that one.
The bottom line the bullpen gave the Mets a chance to win in a tight game and the Mets are going to need that down the stretch. The Indians are good, but so are the Braves and Dodgers and the Nationals, Phillies and Cubs don’t seem like they want to lose, either.
Tonight, felt like a playoff game and if the Mets are going to get to the actual playoffs, they are going need more games like this.
Games that they can sniff wins.
Just like the bloodhounds the Mets are.
About the Author
