Finding Ourselves

It wasn’t just that it was 2-0 Cubs two batters into the ballgame. But in the bottom of that first inning, John Lackey threw a slider so hellacious to Yoenis Cespedes that Lackey had his finger raised and was halfway to the dugout before the ball even crossed the plate while Cory Blaser was already ringing him up. It was then that I thought “damn, this entire series is going to be a massacre.”

Steven Matz would give up one more dinger in the sixth to Javy Baez before leaving the game, but not before Lackey misfired on a slider that went towards his head and awoke the beast inside Matz in the fifth, staring down one of the pitchers I probably wouldn’t want to stare down if it was me. Matz is competitive, but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him quite that angry. Perhaps … and you know I’m not into dissecting “mindset” … but maybe Matz getting angry got everyone else angry. For example, look how long Yoenis Cespedes hit this baseball to make the score 3-1:

Third deck. First time ever. I’d say there was at least a little anger in that swing.

The Mets then took the lead in the seventh, as Cheyenne’s own Brandon Nimmo brought out his contact swing to drive in Travis d’Arnaud to make it 3-2 Cubs. Then Neil Walker’s grounder was thrown away by Baez who was channeling his inner Mets Murphy to try to make the spectacular play at third instead of the easy out, and it wound up costing the Cubs the game as two runs scored. But let’s not forget the real hero: Alejandro De Aza, who walked.

Yup, Alejando De Aza did something other than make me angry enough to cut myself with razor blades. An achievement worth noting.

After Addison Reed and Jerry Blevins locked down the eighth, Jeurys Familia went #TBT on us and brought us back to a simpler time … a time when Randy Myers and Jesse Orosco and Roger McDowell would set the mound on fire, and then at the very last minute put it out themselves before they burned their arms off. Familia loaded the bases with one out in the ninth before striking out Wilson Contreras and getting Baez to pop up to end the game. You might not believe in mindset … I personally think it’s a little overrated. But not tonight. Beating the Chicago Cubs was medicine for the soul. And not the medicine that tastes like roasted skunk with bits of charred rubber sprinkled on it. That would be like beating Atlanta. Beating the Cubs goes down very smooth, and hopefully it makes this undermanned group feel a little better about themselves.

One thing though: I hope that beating Joel Peralta, the Cubs newest bullpen acquisition, doesn’t convince the Cubs to go get Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller and blow the doors off everyone in the National League. In getting our groove back, might we have unwittingly created a monster? We’ll see, but it isn’t worth dwelling over now. The Mets are smiling again.

Does smiling cause bone spurs?

Today’s Hate List

1. Danny Espinosa
2. Brandon Finnegan
3. Ben Zobrist
4. Aroldis Chapman
5. Tom Ricketts