It’s Raining Gum, Hallelujah!

Scoring the two runs necessary to defeat the Chicago White Sox on Memorial Day was less a matter of pulling teeth than implanting them for the New York Mets. Virtually no baserunners for innings on end. Then baserunners. but none of them driven in. Ultimately, a sacrifice fly in the eighth and a sacrifice fly in the ninth, each driving home a runner from third. That’s two runs, which we said was what was needed.

For the fourth time in their history, the Mets won a 2-1 affair in which both runs scored on sacrifice flies, and it was the first time among those four that they tied the game on a sacrifice fly in the eighth and walked it off on a sacrifice fly in the ninth. Would it be blasphemous to suggest that on a holiday intended to honor sacrifice that this may have been the ideal way to win this particular baseball game?

Probably, so let’s keep this upbeat. Let’s see that newly implanted smile, and try not to wear it out by chewing a lot of bubble gum. No problem there, as the Mets seem to use all the bubble gum in their bubble gum bucket for throwing rather than chewing. It’s how they celebrate a solidly struck sacrifice fly or any connective action with a bat that allows them to walk off the field in victory. The Mets have won five games in walkoff fashion this year. If you wish to chew on that stat, go ahead. I know where some still-wrapped, never-chewed bubble gum can be picked up if you’re not picky about picking through Queens grass.

No bubble to burst after finally edging those stubborn visitors from the Midwest, though Monday definitely bordered on dour before joy swooped in. Adrian Houser, the epitome of an Old Friend™, came back to Citi Field in a road uniform and let the Mets know he isn’t who they let go last year. Last year, Houser logged an earned run average of 4.93 in 23 appearances as a Met. This year, Houser threw six shutout innings at his former team. Why was he able to demonstrate such extraordinary improvement?

Because it’s what Old Friends™ do. The only surprising aspect of Adrian’s performance was that Travis d’Arnaud wasn’t catching him.

Clay Holmes seemed prepared to take on the mantle of the hard-luck loser, a timeworn role in Mets pitching lore. Holmes was effective enough over five-and-two-thirds, giving up only one run. His misfortune was choosing to proffer a reasonably solid outing while Adrian Houser was clearly relishing revenge. That, too, is what Old Friends™ do.

Met hitters too often do little. Seven innings going scoreless versus Houser and the Sox qualified as doing next to nothing. The Sox entered the day 17-36. All due respect to our Old Friend™, but we should have found a run in those Hose. Alas, we would have to wait.

The eighth inning was a good time to stop waiting and get going. After Holmes, Jose Butto, Huascar Brazoban and Jose Castillo — backed by some sharp infield defense — kept Chicago from adding on to their lone run, Francisco Alvarez led off and cast off the dark thoughts surrounding his ability to ever get another base hit (the dark thoughts were mine) by singling. Did you ever think you’d see such a thing? (My dark thoughts were beginning to doubt it.)

Alvarez gave way to Luisangel Acuña in one of Carlos Mendoza’s characteristic smooth moves. Mendoza has not hesitated to insert speed in the late innings, embracing aggressiveness more than you might notice. Mendy’s pinch-run for strategic reasons roughly once every four games, and it’s worked quite a bit. When Acuña went first to third on Brandon Nimmo’s one-out single to right, he was the potential tying run ninety feet from home plate. I don’t have it in me to add up all the potential tying runs that have withered away ninety feet from home plate this year, but Acuña’s didn’t. Juan Soto delivered a professional fly ball to left, and Luisangel sped on in. It was the fifth run a Mets pinch-runner scored in 2025.

Hey, a tie! We weren’t necessarily going to lose to the downtrodden White Sox. Tying in the eighth is the second-best action you can take in the course of pursuing a come-from-behind victory. Going ahead in the eighth is the best. The Mets would have to wait a little longer for that.

But just a little longer. First we had to withstand a fruitless rest of the bottom of the eighth. Then we got to benefit from a typical Edwin Diaz top of the ninth — the new kind of typical for Edwin, which is to say the previous or good kind of typical. Finally, we came to the bottom of the ninth and leadoff batter Tyrone Taylor, who must have been listening to the Citi Field PA during all those Ike Davis at-bats between 2010 and 2014. Lest you’ve forgotten, Ike’s walkup music was “Start Me Up”. Sometimes Ike was started up, but it is Tyrone a decade-plus later who has apparently taken Mick Jagger’s pro-acceleration message to heart. He did it in Atlanta on the last day of last season when he doubled on the eleventh pitch of his leadoff plate appearance in the eighth inning when merely everything was on the line, and he did it in Flushing on Monday in the ninth. The circumstances may not have been as urgent, but who wants to lose to the White Sox? Or anybody?

Taylor needed only five pitches this time to blast a double to deep left and set the Mets up to win and, just as importantly, not lose. The Mets, whatever our collective frustrations at their intermittent shortfalls, can be referred to as a good team. A very good team. Very good teams are supposed to beat less good teams. The White Sox, as 17-36 indicated, represented the essence of not very good. Still, not very good teams are going to have their moments. The White Sox have topped opponents seventeen times. Had the White Sox continued to lead the Mets to Monday’s conclusion, I convinced myself it was going to be just one of those things. But when we tied, I convinced myself losing to the White Sox on this day was not an option. Or I preferred it not be.

Taylor on second.
Nobody out.
Let’s make hay.
Let’s throw gum.

The White Sox intentionally walked Jeff McNeil to bring up Luis Torrens, in because Acuña pinch-ran for Alvarez. There’s always a consequence to substitution. Did you mind this one? Even as dark thoughts regarding Alvarez’s recent slumping lightened, wouldn’t you have rather had Torrens up with the game in the balance late? He’s Tyrone Taylor shedding a chest protector in these moments. You just trust him.

Torrens attempted to bunt the runners over. Once. It failed. So he stopped. Smart man. On the second pitch he saw, Luis singled to left to load the bases. This time the potential winning run is ninety feet from home plate. Not necessarily a promising positioning with this ballclub based on recent results.

Recency’s hidden talent is its expertise at producing a new most recent result. Give Francisco Lindor a chance to change your conception of what a Met can do with a runner on third and less than two out. It’s the same chance we gave Soto in the eighth. It’s the same result in the ninth, basically. Lindor swings and drives a deep fly ball to right field, so deep that when it’s caught, it’s a guaranteed RBI. Taylor tags up and sprints home to implant the winning run on the scoreboard. The smiles are broad. The bubble gum is thrown. Lindor wears the bucket it came in, for he is crowned the king of getting it done. Many others could have stuck the pail on their head for a sec, given that it took a village to eke out this 2-1 Mets win, but that’s probably unsanitary.

The bucket stops here.

Thus ended the first third of the 2025 season, with the Mets sporting a record of 33-21. They deserve to sport it, even more than an emptied tub of Dubble Bubble. It’s a good fit. It would look better in first place, but for the time being, it makes for a jaunty second. Playoffs being what they are, just get in, and the Mets, when they’re not stranding runners, appear on their way to doing exactly that.

My overall impression after 54 of 162 games is the New York Mets, a very good team, will be a great team once they are finished becoming whoever they will be. I don’t think they’re quite complete. Contenders rarely are after 33.33% of their schedule. There’s another piece we’re not seeing in our midst yet. It could be somebody we’re not thinking about because that person is working his way back from injury (several players are candidates). It could be somebody who hasn’t yet earned his way up from the minors but will soon. It could be somebody we haven’t given a thought to because he’s currently languishing in another organization. The 2024 Mets kept subtracting and adding until they became the 2024 Mets we hold near and dear. The 2025 Mets don’t have glaring holes, but they do fall short just a little too frequently to make us fully embrace them. Their 33-21 record is one of the best in baseball. Their record of 16-15 in games decided by one or two runs indicates, at least to me, that the slightest of ‘x’ factors will elevate this team to another level. Perhaps the ‘x’ factor is three or four of their current players getting hot and staying hot for a substantial stretch. That certainly wouldn’t hurt. But there’s somebody out there lurking in the shadows of our consciousness just waiting to become the Met we need. When he arrives, this team will be a sight to see.

And if he doesn’t, we’ll continue to take our chances. They’ve worked out pretty well to date.