On a day the organization inducted two beloved former Mets into the Mets Hall of Fame, the team followed the cermony with a complete 6-1 victory over the Marlins to win their third in a row.
Before the game, Lee Mazzilli and former manger Bobby Valentine were inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame with a lovely on-field ceremony. Perhaps it is fitting they inducted Valentine in this particular season. If we jump into the Wayback Machine to 1999, Valentine’s job was on the line after GM Steve Phillips
spent big in the offseason and the team got off to a sluggish start. The team aqcuired a future Hall of Famer in the season prior, but they missed the playoffs by just one game. In the following offseason the general manager spent big, notably acquiring a third baseman, so they could compete with the Braves in the division and get themselves into the playoffs. Sound familiar?
One day after Valentine’s coaches got fired, the team went on a 40-15 tear to get themselves back into the playoff race and the rest is history. Will that happen with this team? Probably not, but with wins in short supply every step forward is crucial for this team to get back on track.
The main standout was Christian Scott who got the start and his first major league win. He gave up one run and struck out eight in five innings of work. He did walk two but he looked to be in complete control during his outing. He’s certainly come a long way from his shaky first start of the year, and with the question marks surrounding the rotation right now, he has brought some measure of stability.
After the Mets scored three runs in the fourth on a Mark Vientos RBI double and a Marcus Semien RBI single, the team added on with solo home runs from two unlikely sources- Jared Young and Hayden Senger, the first of his major league career. They tacked on another run when Juan Soto drove in Carson Benge and so the team comfotably held a five-run lead. But given how many times Miami came back in the series opener, to the point where the Mets had to win it in extras, the bullpen had to find a way to keep the pesky Marlins off the board.
This time the bullpen was up to the challenge. Cionel Pérez, Huascar Brazobán, Austin Warren, and Devin Williams were perfect and didn’t allow any runs between them.
Taking the series against Miami is a good start but they need to go for the sweep if this team wants to climb out of the cellar and, some how, some way, capture some magic from teams past. Ya Gotta Believe right?
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Big Mets winner: Christian Scott, +18% WPA
Big Mets loser: Bo Bichette, -12% WPA
Mets pitchers: +30% WPA
Mets hitters: +20% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Mark Vientos RBI double in fourth, +16.7% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Liam Hicks RBI single in fifth, -6.9% WPA
