When a struggling team scores a thrilling victory—especially on a pitch-packed field against crosstown rivals before an off day—the question has to be asked: How big is this win?
It’s an irresistible question, though – let’s be honest – it’s mostly nonsensical. If the Mets lost to the Yankees again Wednesday night, they wouldn’t have given up this season. Win or lose, they will appear in their next match and compete. This is business, after all.
Here’s why it’s so important, though, why this win might be bigger than most: It can help the Mets relax and play sharp, crisp baseball again. That’s the view of Brandon Nemo, however, after his double shutout from the right field wall 4-3 victory In 10 spinning innings at Citi Field.
The Mets have lost nine of their previous ten games. Had they dropped this one as well, their weaknesses on the field and on the bases would have been more apparent, and might have led to more errors in the future.
“When you win, things stick out a little more; when you lose, they stick out,” Nemo said. “So when you try to change that, you think, ‘Well, maybe we’re not doing enough.'” here, Maybe we are not doing enough here, And you try to push a little bit more in those areas to see if that can get you the desired result of winning.”
Nemo, who missed a fly ball to center field in Tuesday’s loss, caught a seventh-inning walk on the bases on Wednesday. From a kickoff on Starling Marte’s bases-loaded single to left, Nimmo assumed that the runner in front of him would also try to score. He was hurtling towards third when he noticed that the runner, rookie Mark Vientus, had been pulled over. Catcher Jose Trevino pinned Nemo as he scrambled back to second.
“They’re forced to go get something, go achieve something, go after it,” said director Buck Showalter. “We talk all the time: ‘If you feel like something, go for it.'” “
Nemo went for it and lost the punt, as did second baseman Jeff McNeil in the top of the seventh, when he tried to run a double play on a chopper by rusher Isiah Keener-Valeva. Even a perfect pitch would have been hopeless, and it wasn’t perfect: I skipped for an error, scored a run.
Kiner-Falefa was soon trotting around the bases – stealing second, taking third on a wild throw from catcher Francisco Alvarez and then home beating Of Brooks Raleigh, the dreaded left-hander, who was running from the wind and blaring his alert on the back podium.
The entire seventh inning seemed to baffle the owner, Stephen A. Cohen, who has a record salary of more than $340 million — plus millions more in luxury taxes — has a record of 32-36.
“It was a crazy game,” Cohen said chirp. “A lot of mental mistakes, but I’ll accept it.”
Those errors may have obscured the proper approach of the Mets – and the Yankees, for that matter – to the game, a match of aces between the Mets’ Justin Verlander and the Yankees’ Gerrit Cole.
By the middle of the fifth season, Cole and Verlander had combined for 27 wins while allowing only one starting position. However, even with both starters firing batters—not walking between them—they were gone after six runs, batters made error after error and ran counted.
Nemo saw 24 runs in his three at-bats against Cole, including 16 after the count reached two. It was a master class in pitching power wear, and built on the lessons Nimmo learned in the Mets’ farm system.
“There was this old thing when I was in the minor leagues: ‘Watch a couple more pitches, it helps your team once you get a couple of goals,’” Nemo said. Because we need to jump on that, but I don’t want to expand too much, because we don’t want to make it soft early on. It’s a tough line to toe, but I was proud of my hitting today.”
Nemo’s final match came in the 10th against Nick Ramirez, a left-hander who came to face him specifically. Nemo (now hitting . 345 against a left-hander) hit a sinker off the wall to score Eduardo Escobar and give the Mets a much-needed win—one that looked big because it was.
“It feels good to win, but it’s even better when it’s a bluff win, and it happened to one of the best players out there,” said Francesco Lindor shortstop. “That’s how the game works. He didn’t feel good about yesterday, and I’m sure he didn’t feel good about what happened earlier in the game today. He had his chance and he just didn’t let it go.”
