Bye Philliecia!

During Sunday’s rain delay of about 45 minutes, SNY was showing “Amazin Finishes” from 2010. I got to thinking a few things. First, can the game come back on so I don’t have to relive great moments in a season that was highlighted by Jeff Francoeur? Second, and no offense to Jeff Francoeur (okay, maybe a little offense to Jeff Francoeur), the 2022 Mets have had a ton of “Amazin Finishes” that would have been number one in 2010, or quite frankly most other seasons in recorded Mets history.

But they won’t be number one in 2022, because unless the Mets win a game where they were down by 15 runs in the 9th only to rally on the backs of home runs by Pete Alonso, Daniel Vogelbach, Daniel Murphy and Bartolo Colon, and Keith Hernandez spends the entire ninth inning rally complaining about traffic on the L.I.E., the hitch in Eric Davis’ swing, and Starbucks while beating the Atlanta Braves stats guy with an oversized pillow in the booth, we have our winner for 2022’s version of “Amazin Finishes” to be narrated by Steve Gelbs and re-narrated by Michelle Margeaux when Gelbs leaves to host a Joker’s Wild reboot or something.

Quite simply put, it was the Game of the Year in a season full of games of the year.

It started with Jose Butto giving up four runs to the Phillies, highlighted by a three run HR by Alec Bohm on a changeup, supposedly Butto’s best pitch. But Jose settled down after that by throwing his fastball and his curve, and I gotta tell you: Butto’s curve is pretty damn impressive. What was also impressive was Butto hanging in after giving up four runs in his major league debut inning to at least get through the fourth and save the pen a little bit. In the meantime against Kyle Gibson, the Mets got two back in the 2nd inning on an error by Bohm, a bad throw by the first baseman on a possible 3-6-3 double play, and a two run single by Michael Perez made possible by a bobble by Bradley Zimmer, and a dropped throw home by JT Realmuto, and suddenly it was a 4-2 ballgame. It made you hope that Tom “The Phillies defense might be just as good as the Mets defense” was taking time out from writing love letters to Aaron Judge to watch. The Mets would get another one back in the third as Starling Marte and Francisco Lindor made contact on base hits that would make Spencer Strider rip the heads off teddy bears, followed by an RBI single by Vogelbach, and then a Marte single tied it in the fourth.

But Buck tried to nurse Butto through the fourth, and he did … but at the expense of three more Phillie runs on, hey get this: a three run HR by Alec Bohm. (Where have you heard that one before?) He got to a 3-0 count, and having already given up a dinger on the changeup, decided to go safe and throw the fastball. But he missed location and Bohm dinked it off of the very bottom of the foul pole in right. In retrospect, maybe Butto goes to the curveball and hopes for the best. But a guy making his first start is always going to play it safe and before you knew it, the Phillies had a 7-4 lead.

Following Butto’s outing. Buck turned to Nate Fisher to give the Mets a chance come back from being six feet under. Fisher, who was with the Mariners two years ago before working in insurance last year, was signed by the Mets for depth, and you’d be forgiven for being scared that the Mets had to reach as deep as Nate Fisher to win an important game in August. But Fisher held the Phillies scoreless until the rains came to delay the game and switch us to Jeff Francoeur’s Amazin Finishes. Upon returning, Fisher took the hill again in the bottom of the 6th, and Mark Canha began what would prove to be a heroic day by making a diving catch to end that inning to keep his team within three runs.

Mark Canha talks about Nate Fisher's performance today:

"I didn’t even know who this guy was when he came into the game today. Like, man, he did a hell of a job for us today. That was awesome, gutsy performance." pic.twitter.com/Pn7sQhZBns

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 21, 2022

Then in the top of the 7th, Alonso and Vogelbach reached on base soft contact hits that would have sent Strider to the Hershey Chocolate factory to steal candy bars from children. Then after a flyout by Jeff McNeil, Canha brought his superhero’s cape to the plate.

MARK CANHA TIES THE GAME!!! pic.twitter.com/fcJZI6a9Y9

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 21, 2022

You seriously have to kill this team with a stake through the heart or a silver bullet. And Buck knows this. That’s why in a move that I’m sure he thought long and hard about, he kept Fisher out there for the bottom of the 7th in a move that to us looked like Buck just saying “screw it!” But it takes a lot of effort to make something looks effortless. Nate Fisher threw three innings for a team decimated by injuries and not only made it look effortless, but gave the Mets a chance to win a game started by Jose Butto who, like Fisher, was making his major league debuts. Hell, Fisher even picked off a runner, which was something the Phillies tried to do in the very next inning, and it resulted in a small bonfire.

Then came pinch hitter Jean Segura against Trevor May. Coming into Sunday, Segura had 331 PA’s against the Mets. and in those PA’s he was hitting .326 with an OPS of .880, with 11 home runs and 36 RBI which I would swear have all come in the 7th inning or later. Segura was on brand as he smacked a solo shot off of May to make it 8-7, and paid homage to Ray Knight by rounding first like it was the 7th game of the World Series. Well, God bless, Jean. But any vibes that you recovered were lost in the ninth. David Robertson, who pitched two innings yesterday, was brought in for one more today. Jeff McNeil smacked a double down the line in right to set up another big spot for Canha.

Think canha has a lot of homers left in him this season. He got off to a good start this year with great at bats, but not as much power as he’s shown in the past. Power coming now.

— dcowan (@dcowan850) August 21, 2022

CANHA YOU BELIEVE IT?!?! pic.twitter.com/Iic3MUwtYL

— New York Mets (@Mets) August 21, 2022

Mark Canha’s bat flip is a thing of beauty pic.twitter.com/RHNTQuEgLC

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) August 21, 2022

Strider has already complained that Canha’s bat flip didn’t have enough exit velocity.

Brandon Nimmo added a dinger of his own off of somebody named Tyler Cyr to make it 10-8, and with Edwin Diaz coming into the game, we all thought it was mere window dressing. Turns out it was the frame, because Diaz’s command was a little off as Realmuto and Nick Castellanos led off the inning with singles. Two sac flies, including one that cut the lead to 10-9 later, Diaz was fact to face with Segura. In the before times, Segura hit a grand slam off Diaz to rip all of our hearts out. As you know, 2022 isn’t 2019. Now I’d like to tell you that Diaz blew away Segura for the final out, but what made 2022 different from 2019 on this day was not simply the result, but it was the fact that Diaz was smart enough to realize that without his best stuff, there was no way he was going to blow away Segura with a fastball in the zone. So he pitched around him and walked him, which was more than fine because that’s the one guy you can’t have beat you. If Darick Hall follows up the walk and beats Edwin Diaz, then there’s honestly nothing anybody can do.

METS WIN. pic.twitter.com/gCjy7NlOqT

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 21, 2022

Yes, Virginia. There is a Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy is real, and the Mets won the damn thing 10-9. And because the Astros beat the Braves on Sunday (thanks for showing up, Houston), the Mets are now four games up on the Braves. They might need all four of those games this week as the Braves go to Pittsburgh while the Mets get the Yankees, who I think are good again because Aaron Boone hit a table. As for the Phillies, the Mets are done with them for the season on August 21st and have gone 14-5 against them for the first time since 2014. Crazy that they are not on the schedule in September. But I’ll miss the fun times we’ve had. Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened. And smile because it happened more to them than to us.