And on the last day of the first half,* the Mets presented us with a fan’s oldest philosophical conundrum: Is it better to come back and lose, or not to come back at all?
The philosophy lesson came at the very end: Before that, the Mets followed one of their more frustrating 2025 scripts, in which ducks on the pond are some sort of ASMR thing that puts the rest of the lineup into a blissful doze. A one-out Mark Vientos first-inning triple yielded nothing. Ditto for Ronny Mauricio‘s single leading off the second. First and second with one out in the fourth? Nada. I could list all the souffles that fell, but you get the idea.
Alternate narrative, because sometimes it’s not always about us: Young Kansas City hurler Noah Cameron was electric, fanning eight Mets and stepping up when needed, and he got superb infield defense behind him. (The Royals’ outfield? Not so much. In fact, yikes.)
Meanwhile, Clay Holmes was fine for the Mets and Sean Manaea was better making his season debut in a piggyback role: Manaea gave up a single to the first batter he faced, Bobby Witt Jr., but then fanned five of the next six.
In the ninth the Mets dug in against Carlos Estevez, who by now must be seeing Mets in his nightmares, and rose up in self-indignation — assisted by whatever it was the Royals were doing out there in the outfield. Mauricio doubled to left over the head of Nick Loftin, whose Cedeno-esque route around the ball made you want to cover your eyes, Jeff McNeil tripled just past the glove of Kyle Isbel in center, and Jared Young brought McNeil home on a sacrifice fly that was just long enough.
Just like that the Mets had tied the game, and all they needed was for Manaea to keep the Royals in check for another half-inning. Francisco Lindor would be the Manfred man in the top of the 10th, with Vientos, Juan Soto and Pete Alonso behind him, and…
…and not so fast. Manaea got the first out of the ninth on another strikeout, but modern-day Herb Washington Tyler Tolbert served a pretty good pitch to right and then stole second. Loftin then hit a well-placed slider at the bottom of the zone just over the infield, and just like that the Mets had gone into the break with a loss.
Manaea pitched well for a club that could really use what he brings to the starting rotation. Neither of the pitches that undid the Mets were ones he’d want back. The Mets pulled off another late-inning comeback. All of these are good things.
And yet they lost. So what do you think? Better to have watched Royals outfielders do what they don’t do enough and go down 2-0? Or better to have fought back and still been dispatched? The scribes have argued this one ever since town ball took shape on some long-forgotten English village green; they’ll be arguing about it when baseball is played on Mars and aboard space stations. Sunday was just another stitch in the tapestry of what-ifs and OK-buts, with so much left to weave.
* They’ve actually played 97 games, which is 60% of a season, but nobody needs to hear from That Guy.
Well, the comeback provided about 3 minutes of excitement and hope, but the end result was the same. Also, can you deem a pitcher “electric” when he’s facing a team that has a reputation for being a bit… hitting challenged?
Well, that was depressing. And we get to meditate over that for a whole week. Yay.
I honestly don’t know what to make of these Mets. Are they the May juggernaut that looked like the second coming of ‘86? Or are they the June swooners who looked more like the Mets of Doug Flynn and Pete Falcone? I guess we’ll have to find out. Here’s hoping that the second half will feature more Jekyll and less Hyde.
Manaea pitched very well.
My one beef: with Tolbert on second with one out, the smart move would be to walk Loftin. With that in place, a ground ball would yield a force at 1st or 2nd – or even an inning ending double play. The batter following Loftin would be Fermin (another righty). You lose nothing with this strategy because the only runner that counts is Tolbert at second base. In short – a tactical error by Mendoza.
So the Yankees just picked up Rico Garcia on waivers. He was the fellow who retired the last 8 in a row for us and then got DFA’d, to which I said in this space that there is something wrong with this organization.
Should have DFA’d one of the terrible minor league relievers we already have on our staff.
Agree with you completely. Why is Dicky Lovelady still there? Because he’s left handed? He can’t get lefties or righties out.
Of course it’s better to tie and lose than to not tie and lose.
1. They extended the game and could have won.
2. They showed they are capable of coming back in the 9th, which they had never done before this season. Inspiration for the next time.
3. It ain’t over till it’s over.