Mets lend a hand

HOUSTON — The Mets did some relief work on Friday that exemplified the meaning of charitable actions. There were no cameras, no photo ops, no posing. This was a simple pitch: Do whatever we can in whatever small way we can.

Some Mets went to churches, some went to food banks. Whatever they could, wherever they could.

“I felt we wished we could do more than we did,” said rookie Dominic Smith, who served at the Houston Food Bank, the largest in America. “A lot of people out here are supporting each other. A lot of people are volunteering. It does hurt your heart to see people go through these tough times. You just do what you can and try to help.”

A.J. Hinch, the Astros manager, gave a special shout out to the Mets while addressing the crowd prior to the start of Saturday’s day-night doubleheader. The Mets, Hinch noted, helped in a city “they rarely come to and for that we are forever grateful.”

In all, estimates said about 25-30 Mets players, coaches and team personnel aided in the Hurricane Harvey relief effort. “We did whatever we thought was right. The bigger helpers were the people in that community who were able to reach out to everyone in the community to come to the church and pick up whatever they needed or [replace] whatever they lost,” said Travis d’Arnaud, who helped at the first Baptist Church in Pasadena, Texas, along with several teammates, including Brandon Nimmo. “It was really nice to see people helping people.”

Both d’Arnaud and Nimmo told of a truck that arrived stocked with supplies from Wisconsin.

“We unloaded cars that were coming in. Had a truck come in from Wisconsin that was loaded with supplies, unloaded that,” Nimmo said. “We were helping people get to their car with supplies. They set up like a Walmart so people could grab what they needed. We helped do things like sort clothes. We were just happy we were able to help in some small way.”