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After six straight wins and two shutouts in a row, Mets ready to go all Hollywood
After the Mets thoroughly bashed the Nationals on Monday and Tuesday, combining for 23 runs and 33 hits, a kid making his major-league debut was able to slow them down, briefly.
Nationals’ rookie Evan Lee contained the Mets to only two runs, but it wasn’t enough for Washington to avoid a sweep, as the Amazin’s piled on Washington’s bullpen and took the game, 5-0.
The Mets (35-17) have now won six in a row as they embark for what is, by far, the biggest test of their enchanted season. Four games against the Dodgers, three games against the Padres and three interleague clashes with the Angels await them after a cross-country flight. That flight will be full of smiles after Carlos Carrasco’s five shutout innings and Tomas Nido’s four hits.
Carrasco had an uncharacteristically wild day on the mound. He walked five for the first time as a Met and at one point missed the strike zone on 11 straight pitches. But a pitcher doesn’t last 13 MLB seasons without knowing how to get out of trouble. In the third inning, after walking the bases loaded with two outs, Carrasco slotted a perfect changeup on the outside corner to catch Yadiel Hernandez looking.
“I was trying to do my best and give the best I can to my dad,” Carrasco said.
It was Luis Carrasco’s first time watching his son pitch a major-league game, and Carlos mentioned that he almost cried when he saw the video of his dad cheering him on. The right-hander earned his 95th big-league win without the luxury of a single 1-2-3 inning.
“It was really emotional,” Carrasco said. “We tried before and it couldn’t happen. He was supposed to be here for the first game with the Phillies. His flight got delayed and he couldn’t make it. Today, he made it. I’m really happy.”
In the postgame clubhouse celebration, Luis presented Carlos with the Mets’ player of the game belt.
“They call it tug at your heart,” Buck Showalter said. “That’s a full pull.”
The Nationals squandered their most promising scoring chance in the top of the fourth. Notorious speedster Dee Strange-Gordon stood in with one out and runners on the corners. After a safety squeeze attempt, Strange-Gordon gave it a full swing. The ball went straight into the ground, typically a ticket for Strange-Gordon’s quick-moving legs to reach base. The Mets worked quicker, though, turning the grounder into a perfect double play.
That defensive mastery seemed to put a pep in the Mets’ step. Nido’s first single came in the bottom half of the inning, and when Strange-Gordon booted the ball in center field, it allowed a second run to coast in. Nido came into the game hitting an even .300 in 23 plate appearances with runners in scoring position. His game-swinging knock, along with a two-RBI double in the eighth, gave Nido two more hits in that important situation.
“We treat it like a 0-0 ballgame,” Nido said. “No matter who’s on the other side, we’re trying to jam it down their throat and get the job done.”
Not many teams have a backup catcher in the nine hole that’s so reliable in big spots, and, on the flip side, no other team has Francisco Lindor.
It seems that, at long last, Mets fans have accepted Lindor into their heart. He was unequivocally disappointing last season, when he hit a career-worst .230 and finished the year with an unrecognizable .734 OPS. In 2022, he’s been as advertised. Lindor’s sacrifice fly in the seventh gave the Mets an insurance run and also extended his personal streak to 10 games with a run batted in. Now that his bat has finally arrived in Flushing, pairing beautifully with his gold-plated glove, Lindor is near the top of the Wins Above Replacement leaderboard in the National League. Right there with him: Jeff McNeil and Brandon Nimmo.
With the position players showing out and the pitchers turning in quality start after quality start, it’s not hard to see how the Mets are 18 games above .500. Edwin Diaz threw plumes of unhittable smoke past the Nats in the top of the ninth, and the Mets officially swept a home stand for the first time this season.
Showalter isn’t much interested in crowning the Mets right now, though.
“We’ll find out in September and October,” he responded when asked how good he thinks his team is. “I’m okay with finding out about it when it gets here.”