“My Girl” you know about — the singalong that accompanies Francisco Lindor [1]‘s ABs is a new tradition that’s all the sweeter for its organic origins and the Mets having sense enough to stay out of the way.
But the crowd at Citi Field wasn’t satisfied with augmenting the Temptations. They did the honors on “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” accompanied by Muppets as it was Sesame Street Night. They sang rapturously along with “Dancing Queen,” the winner of the karaoke contest. They even burst detectably into song when a bit of the Killers’ “Mr. Brightside” popped up between innings.
And they sang the praises of Nolan McLean [2] — toward the end of his eye-opening performance, of course, but also from the very beginning of his labors. They clapped in a rising cadence when McLean got to two strikes. They cried out in disappointment when a close call didn’t go his way. And they roared when he dispatched yet another Phillie batter, either via strikeout (six of them) or a sharp play made behind him.
I’ll spare you a scouting report from the 300 level beyond what I saw as part of the boisterous crowd: McLean filling up the strike zone and changing speeds with a maturity far beyond what his decidedly short resume would suggest. It was remarkable to see hitters of the caliber of Trea Turner [3], Kyle Schwarber [4] and Bryce Harper [5] rearing up in the batter’s box, frustrated by their inability to figure McLean out — Turner and Harper were both sufficiently befuddled that their bats wound up helicoptering away from the plate, perhaps in wooden surrender. And McLean’s pitch count kept us doing double takes — only in the last couple of innings did it climb to expected levels, as he tired and lost a little precision and zip.
Only a little, though — McLean’s eighth had the crowd in a frenzy, trying to will him through the frame after crybaby Alec Bohm [6] singled with nobody out and Max Kepler [7] moved him to third with a single of his own. They roared when Juan Soto [8] caught a Nick Castellanos [9] fly and uncorked a missile to the plate, keeping Bohm at third tete-a-teteing with Dusty Wathan [10]. They roared again when Bryson Stott [11] flied out to left and Brandon Nimmo [12] let fly with a Thou Shalt Not throw of his own. And they exploded when Harrison Bader [13] hit a little tapper to McLean, who tossed it to Pete Alonso [14] at first to complete eight innings of stellar work.
(BTW, Stott’s walkup music in Philly is the earworm “AOK” by Tai Verdes, and you could hear Phillies fans singing it for him during his ABs. Like I said, a musical night!)
By the eighth the anxiety had left the stadium, letting us cheer McLean for his own sake. The Mets put together three runs in the third with five straight hits off old friend Taijuan Walker [15], added another in the fifth on a Mark Vientos [16] RBI single, and made things academic in the seventh when Vientos hit a bolt of a home run off Tanner Banks [17].
Citi Field has been a house of horrors for the Phils — they’ve now lost their last 10 here — and the Mets did them no favors by playing one of their better games of the season: The defense was crisp, with Alonso starting a nifty 3-6-3 double play in the second and Jeff McNeil [18] making a leaping grab above the fence in center, and the hitters looked loose and aggressive all night.
A three-game sweep [19], a rookie on top of the world, and one of the best crowds I’ve even been a part of at Citi Field. Kind of makes you want to burst into song all over again.