It occurred to me as I witnessed five different Mets don the vest and hard hat on Thursday afternoon at Citi Field that if this team is gonna keep hitting homers in bunches, they’ll need to add some variety to their dugout celebration wardrobe. Maybe one slugger can be the construction worker, another one can be a motorcycle cop, another can be a leather enthusiast, and another couple can decide between themselves who gets the cowboy hat and who gets the Native American headdress. Any military uniform available will remain reserved for the starting pitcher who takes command even when lacking command.
[1]When your greatest hits encompass multiple homers, you gotta consider spicing up the celebratory garb.
Macho, macho Mets? Whatever floats your boat, whether or not you’ve ever been in the navy. In their series finale against the Tigers, the Metropolitan accessory of choice a long fly ball from Queens Village, people, was a broom. Detroit got swept, and it was a massive power display responsible for the bulk of the 9-4 final [2] that sealed it.
• The icing on the cake was Marcus Semien [3]’s solo shot in the eighth.
• The frosting was provided by Juan Soto [4], whose presence in the lineup was reason enough to have ordered a cake. Not only did Juan overcome his day-to-day status from the night before, but he went yard in the seventh and singled in the go-ahead run in the fifth.
• The bakery doors at last swung wide open for Brett Baty [5], who highlighted his 4-for-12 series with the two-run homer that made like the string behind the counter and tied things up in the fourth.
• Mark Vientos [6] brought the flour, the eggs, all the ingredients that were needed to create the distant dinger he pulled out of the oven for two runs in the fifth.
• And who better to set out the festive plates and napkins than the kid who just arrived at the party than A.J. Ewing [7]? His first major league home run (bases empty, off Keider Montero) is what put the Mets on the board in the third, just like his showing up three games ago has coincided with the Mets going on a three-game winning streak.
Throw in a few more party favors, like Hayden Senger [8]’s safety squeeze to score Semien in the sixth; three critical replay challenges that each went the Mets’ way, including one that shouldn’t have, but who are we to question MLB-sanctioned technology?; Willie Mays’s son Michael throwing out the ceremonial first pitch to Willie Mays’s teammate Cleon Jones on the 54th anniversary of Willie’s triumphant Shea homecoming [9] (not a box score factor, but the vibes were a-Mays-in’); and, most of all, Nolan McLean [10] overcoming a frightful first inning and some stressful frames thereafter to go seven strong. Nolan gave up a three-run homer to Gage Workman five batters in and had the Mets behind, 3-0. By the time he struck out Kevin McGonigle with his 93rd and final pitch, the Mets led, 7-3. Yes, lots of power to thrust us well ahead, but lots of starting pitcher perseverance to tame the Tigers so they’d purr in place.
Detroit is kind of a mess right now, but so was New York before Detroit showed up in New York. The Mets have looked intermittently able when playing teams flailing as much they’ve flailed. Then the Mets resumed flailing. If this mini-surge marks an ascent from bottom rung to slight step up, let’s take it and keep on climbing. If it was just a matter of not distracting the Tigers from chasing their own tails, let’s take that, too.
Either way, all of a sudden it’s fun to root for the M-E-T-S.