Hey, why don’t they make the whole pitching staff out of Nolan McLean [1]?
Statistically, McLean’s start Tuesday night against the Tigers was the least of the four he’s made so far in his very young career. But it might have been the most impressive for all that. McLean reported for duty having trouble landing his curveball and sweeper, with a pair of first-inning walks and RBI singles yielding two Tiger runs and more trouble at hand in the second — and all this came against a Detroit team that’s spent the season feasting on the American League.
But McLean figured it out, riding the sinker and changeup until he could harness his disobedient breaking stuff: Those two first-inning runs were all he allowed in six innings of work. Meanwhile, the Mets ambushed Sawyer Gipson-Long [2] and his lawyerly moniker (a sawyer is actually a sawmill worker, but shh, nobody likes a pedant) the second time through the batting order, with the key blow a three-run shot off the foul pole from Luis Torrens [3].
They then poured it on against Chris Paddack [4], who a seeming eternity ago was a Padre and self-described competition for Pete Alonso [5] in the race to be National League Rookie of the Year. That didn’t happen in 2019 and Paddack absorbed a fearful beating Tuesday night, getting an uncomfortable up-close look at the entire Mets lineup in one endless, dreadful two-thirds of an inning: Juan Soto [6] homer, Alonso homer (his second of the night), Brandon Nimmo [7] single, Mark Vientos [8] double, Jeff McNeil [9] single, a fielder’s choice from poor luckless Cedric Mullins [10], Torrens single, Brett Baty [11] single, Francisco Lindor [12] sacrifice fly, Soto single, and finally permission to be excused further indignities.
(Paddack took the L aesthetically too, wearing an unadorned, pale beige glove that reminded me of uncooked chicken. It was nauseating to look at and offended me; judging from the box score, the Mets took exception too.)
If Monday night was about the Mets outhitting their mistakes, Tuesday was just an out and out beatdown, with the lone blemish Kevin Herget [13] tiring shy of a three-inning save and Ryne Stanek [14] needing a few moments to get his bearings. The results didn’t entirely banish my bad Detroit memories: If I close my eyes I can still see Bobby Higginson [15] going ham [16] on the Mets at Tiger Stadium, or summon up the first uneasy tendrils of suspicion that Justin Verlander [17] was not, in fact [18], going to lead us back to the promised land alongside fellow former Tiger Max Scherzer [19].
But 12-5 will make you feel better [20] about a lot of things — the immediate future, the standings, and even a long-ago slight or two.