Before today’s afternoon finale against the Brewers, I was thinking about how things were coming together for the Mets. The big two pitchers are back. Drew Smith is back, Luis Guillorme is back, Starling Marte is going to try to grip a bat today, and along with the injuries working themselves out, the Mets are actually on a six game winning streak with Taijuan Walker going against a pitcher with an ERA in the high fours, and Oakland coming up. I was thinking that things were coming together.
My mother always tells me: “That’s what you get for thinking you could think.” That applied today.
One of the themes of the season has been getting in front of injuries. Max Scherzer is 1-1 in those situations. Starling Marte got out in front of a potential muscle pull (only to get hit in the finger by a pitch, but that’s harter to get out in front of.) Well now we have Brandon Nimmo trying to get out in front, as he experienced left quad tightness … most likely on a head first slide into second on a stolen base in the first inning. He would leave in the bottom of the first after trying to explode out of the blocks twice on fly balls because of the after effects of the steal. So much for thinking that things were going to be smooth sailing the rest of the way.
Brandon Nimmo is confident that his injury will not impact him in the long term:
"It's already feeling a little bit better than when I first did it" pic.twitter.com/BpktrcHfEc
— SNY (@SNYtv) September 21, 2022
Taijuan Walker was zooming through the Brewers lineup for five innings while the Mets lineup was getting shut down by Adrian Houser M.D. Meanwhile, the Nationals were doing the Mets a solid and beating the Braves (while not being completely happy about doing us a solid). The Mets would go on to get a W on the day, but unfortunately the W belonged to Steve Gelbs as “Polish Sausage”.
As Ron said the other night, I’m no front runner…
…but my finishing kick is unmatched! pic.twitter.com/ukXRGUVsch
— Steve Gelbs (@SteveGelbs) September 21, 2022
After that victory, it was all downhill. Walker gave up a homer to Willy Adames to put the Brewers on the board. The Mets weren’t hitting Houser or his bullpen mates. Jeff McNeil was working on his Flying Wallenda impression in the outfield and driving his knee in the ground in the process. Then in the 7th, after Taijuan Walker gave up the second run of the game to Milwaukee, David Peterson came in and got a strikeout and a sacrifice before intentionally walking Adames to set up Drew Smith’s return to the bigs, facing pinch hitter Mike Brosseau with the bases loaded in what would be Smith’s first situation since July 24th. That’s when Smith’s achilles heel of giving up home runs combined with Jeff McNeil’s mission to snap his own achilles heel, and every other muscle in his body, to seal the end fo the Mets’ six game winning streak.
Mike Brosseau comes through with the pinch-hit SLAM. 😱
(MLB x @citrix) pic.twitter.com/eDhLyWiLHL
— MLB (@MLB) September 21, 2022
“We won the series against the Brewers and we need a healthy squad for the rest of the regular season, just don’t do anything to get yourself hurt”
Jeff McNeil: pic.twitter.com/9kuCku9y8z
— Thomas Cavanagh (@TJ_Cavanagh) September 21, 2022
The Mets would go on to set a record at the end of the game. Unfortunately, it wasn’t for most six run 9th inning comebacks. It was the modern day record for being hit by more pitches in a season than anyone else in modern baseball history.
Buck Showalter asked for the ball when the Mets set the Major League record for HBPs 🤣 pic.twitter.com/Vjk9fb6PXG
— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) September 21, 2022
Buck asking for the ball is the ultimate troll move. It’s either going to have a permanent place in the Mets Hall of Fame, or he’s going to bury the ball next under the Whitestone expressway next to the remains of the Home Run Horse, which has become the Chuck Cunningham of home run celebrations.
Today’s Hate List
- I can’t hate Mike Brosseau because he eliminated the Yankees in 2020.
- I can’t hate anyone on the Nationals because they actually won today.
- So … Chase Utley,
- John Rocker,
- and Derek Jeter.
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