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Greg Prince and Jason Fry
Faith and Fear in Flushing made its debut on Feb. 16, 2005, the brainchild of two longtime friends and lifelong Met fans.

Greg Prince discovered the Mets when he was 6, during the magical summer of 1969. He is a Long Island-based writer, editor and communications consultant. Contact him here.

Jason Fry is a Brooklyn writer whose first memories include his mom leaping up and down cheering for Rusty Staub. Check out his other writing here.

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That ... Was a Lot

The Mets and the Nats, sheesh. I guess it proves that for every Nieuwenhuis there’s a Suzuki. And for the critical stretches of Monday night’s mildly bonkers game, it wasn’t clear whether the compass was going to wind up pointing to N or S.

And I missed the first five innings! I mean, so sue me — we were eating lobsters on the dock with Emily’s parents (actually I was eating fish and chips, due to a shellfish allergy) and I’d forgotten it was a 6:45pm start. Not to deflect attention from my lack of said, but isn’t that a little early to start a game anyway? 7:05, 7:10, even 7:40 I get … but 6:45 is just weird.

Fortunately, all I’d missed was the Mets being frustrated by MacKenzie Gore. I’d just gotten the TV on (accompanied by a gorgeous Maine sunset) when the Mets rose up in indignation, with Mark Vientos singling in Harrison Bader to bring the Mets within one, Tyrone Taylor reaching on a CJ Abrams error and Francisco Alvarez lashing a Derek Law cutter that didn’t cut into the gap for a 3-2 Mets lead.

It looked like the Mets might hold that lead, with Dedniel Nunez taking over for David Peterson and collecting four outs, leaving the Mets with four to get. But then Nunez walked Jesse Winker and Joey Meneses smacked a single to right field that took a strange bounce, startling a perhaps not completely attentive Taylor. Just like that, the Nats had tied it, and the ghosts of the last two days were suddenly romping around, cackling predictions of doom.

Nunez survived when Ildemaro Vargas inexplicably tried to bunt for a hit (seriously, WTF?); Jake Diekman came in for the ninth and immediately put the Mets in harm’s way when he threw away a ball, allowing newcomer James Wood to reach second with nobody out. The Mets survived when Taylor just barely corralled a drive by Jacob Young and we were on to extras, with Francisco Lindor once again the Manfred man.

This time, the Mets unloaded: Down 0-2 against Hunter Harvey and mired in an 0 for 12 funk, J.D. Martinez got a splitter that hung in the middle of the plate and drove it over the fence for a three-run homer. Alvarez brought in Taylor with a triple, and Jose Iglesias followed with a two-run blast. The Mets had driven in six runs, and Gary Cohen was exulting about putting the hammer down and cappers.

To be fair to Gary, so was I and quite possibly so were you. But Tyler Jay gave up a pair of walks and a pair of doubles and looked like he couldn’t get enough air out there, despite Alvarez trying to cajole, entreat and bully him across the finish line. (Alvarez is must-see TV, whether he’s show-ponying his way around the bases after another big hit or behind the plate tending to a reliever who’s become a spooked horse.) Jay was excused further duty in favor of Reed Garrett, who hasn’t been scintillating of late and was facing the tying run in Keibert Ruiz.

Ruiz singled in a run and the Nats were a drive down the line away from tying it and a home run away from showing the Mets the Full Suzuki, and if you were confident, well, I want to have what you were having. So of course Garrett made short work of Luis Garcia Jr., erasing him on a splitter to secure the victory. The lesson, as always: Never try to outguess baseball. The Mets had won despite playing reliever roulette with four or five rounds chambered; they’ll now undoubtedly make a slew of new moves in hopes that a few more of those chambers come up empty around 8pm Tuesday.

We won. Was it fun? It was at times. Were there times when I thought the best course of action was to slip into the other room and turn my stomach inside out? Yes there were. And that was not fun.

Let’s just say it … was a lot.

11 comments to That … Was a Lot

  • eric1973

    We should bring Ryan, Koosman and Matlack out of retirement and let them get some outs. They have to be better than the Minor League garbage no-names we keep trotting out there every single day.

  • eric1973

    Just read that Christian Scott will be back on Wednesday to face Washington.

    Finally!

    I thought he was sent down in early June because we had some off days around the London trip. Then he apparently entered the Witness Protection Program.

    It is nice to see him back when the team is going good, because when he was here earlier, he was pitching well with a horrible team behind him.

  • Harvey

    Can Grimace pitch?

  • open the gates

    How many more days until Edwin Diaz comes back?

    PS – it took me until today’s post to get the “Manfred man” reference. Guess I was blinded by the light.

  • Curt Emanuel

    “Alvarez is must-see TV, whether he’s show-ponying his way around the bases after another big hit or behind the plate tending to a reliever who’s become a spooked horse.”

    I like watching him come to bat. He is carrying some attitude right now.

  • Nice synopsis of the game last night. You really captured my emotions. The first five innings against Gore were frustrating. Our guys were so tempted to swing at the high heat. But they got to the bull pen and had just enough pitching to finish off the game. The Mets are in trouble tonight unless Manaea can pitch a complete game :)

  • Rudin1113

    And to think, Clarke Schmidt was afforded the privilege of washing his hands.

  • Seth

    “Alvarez is must-see TV…”

    Yes but did you see the “Whatever, rookie” look that Altuve gave him last weekend as Alvy cavorted on second base?

  • mikeL

    wow, what better a way to ruin the feel-good vibe of an extra innings offensive onslaught than THAT?!

    it’s bad enough when our established relievers show no ability to pound the strike zone (isn’t that what relievers are for?) but to bring in this forlorn looking tyler jay to do the same had me yelling at my tv. i dfa’ed jay after his requisite 3 batters but mendoza pled insanity to keep him in. and after garrett would have warmed up
    for nothing!

    mendoza was doing the manager equivalent of an infielder missing the double play ball, worrying about the throw before the ball’s in hand.

    a most unsatisfying win that should have been reinvigorating after the two (needless) losses to houston, left me more pissed off than relieved.

    yes finally christian scott in and buto too. where is mr lucchesi?

    they’re certainly not saving him for tomorrow.

    pffft.