We’ve all been depressed about what’s going on in the world regarding the COVID-19 outbreak, and baseball has become collateral damage. The 2020 baseball season is set to begin in late July. Until then, you can read this blog in the alternate: the one where global pandemics were a myth and baseball was around no matter what. We’re imagining the 2020 Mets season as if everything was normal. Enjoy these works of fiction.
So would you rather win the battle or the war?
I feel as if there’s a disturbing amount of fans that would rather Pete Alonso hit three HR’s off Chris Paddack and lose the game than win. Now those people would say “what’s one game at the expense of baseball culture high ground?” I would retort with “what’s one individual matchup at the expense of a win when the wild card race comes down to the wire?” But maybe I’m old school.
The Mets won the battle. Alonso’s two run single in the first and solo HR in the third gave the Mets a 3-0 lead and will be sure to neuter Paddack until next week when the Padres come to Citi Field. That gave Rick Porcello enough room to maneuver as he followed up last week’s surprising effort with a strong seven inning two run performance as he threw a good mix of sinkers and four seamers to use Petco Park to his advantage.
But the Padres got to Dellin Betances, who earned the win yesterday pitching a strong 7th inning. Remember Juan Lagares? Yeah, he’s on the Padres now. And he led off the 7th with a single up the middle. Brian Dozier then pinch hit for Emilio Pagan and ripped a single to right to put runners at first and third. Betances then pitched carefully to Tatis Jr., who laid off the high fastballs and drew a walk. Betances bounced back to strike out Tommy Pham and Manny Machado, and then Luis Rojas countered with Justin Wilson to face Eric Hosmer in hopes of getting the third out.
But Hosmer is annoying, as you no doubt remember from the 2015 World Series. And after Hosmer worked the count 3-2, he hit a soft liner just over the head of Jeff McNeil on the 10th pitch of the at-bat to bring home two runs and give the Padres the lead. Wil Myers then whacked a single to left to bring home Tatis and give the Padres a 5-3 lead before Wilson retired Trent Grisham to get out of the inning.
The Mets rallied in the 9th off Kirby Yates. After Brandon Nimmo struck out, Jeff McNeil singled to center. Yates then struck out Alonso before Conforto worked out an 11 pitch walk. Then it was J.D. Davis, who had been the hero yesterday. He smacked a deep drive to center field that we all got up and screamed our heads off until we realized that Juan Lagares was playing center field and thought “oh no.”
Or something a little stronger, perhaps.
Lagares’ over the shoulder catch and subsequent moderate contact with the wall was web-gem worthy enough to lead SportsCenter (whereas if it was Brandon Nimmo, SC probably would have led with a half hour of Tedy Bruschi discussing whether Rob Gronkowski would have turkey sausage or turkey bacon with his egg whites while preparing to shoot Instagram videos with TB12. But such is life, much like Sunday’s 5-3 loss to San Diego. Six coming up with the Giants and Padres again, which will no doubt feature :Paddack vs Alonso 2: I Still Don’t Care What You Said Last Summer”.
Today’s Hate List
- Eric Hosmer
- Alcides Escobar
- Mike Moustakas
- Johnny Cueto
- Alex Gordon
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