If a baseball season is a marathon, what the Mets have left is more like a 400-meter dash.
The distance is much shorter, but the intensity is higher than ever. There’s no time to sit back or just keep running. This is the longest of the sprints, an excruciatingly grueling quarter-mile, a race so grueling that Brandon Nimmo – Wyoming’s 2011 high school state champion – became ill after crossing the finish line.
What the Mets have been doing lately, including their 10-6 win over the Phillies on Thursday night at Citi Field, looks like a damn good finish.
Mark Vientos, Pete Alonso, Nimmo and Francisco Alvarez hit home runs – all against Taijuan Walker, all in the first four innings – and the bullpen survived a brief scare to protect a late lead, scoring double digits in a third straight game for the first time in franchise history.
“You empty the tank every day. And then you empty the tank of whatever you have the next day,” Nimmo said. “And this time of year, you definitely see guys giving it their all on the field with the experienced guys we have and the young guys we have – that good mix. How could you not with this atmosphere?”
Manager Carlos Mendoza echoed a sentiment he expressed even during the Mets’ worst times: “We know we’re good.”
The Mets (85-68) have won four straight games without Francisco Lindor, who remains out with a back injury, and have won 16 of their last 20 games overall. They and Arizona are two games ahead of Atlanta for the final two NL wild-card spots.
The Mets may be playing their best game when it matters most.
“I think so,” said Alonso. “We have risen to the challenge brilliantly, especially towards the end of the year. We have put ourselves in a good position, but we just have to finish it.”
In what seemed like a difficult four-game weekend, this was the game the Mets had to win based solely on the pairing of starting pitchers: Walker versus Luis Severino (six innings, three runs).
Walker, a former Met, has a 6.91 ERA this season, one of the worst by a starting pitcher in Phillies history. Just last week, Walker was relegated to the bullpen, returning to the rotation only because Philadelphia (91-62) was having a hard time filling the fifth spot.
Over the next three days, the Phillies will field Cristopher Sanchez (3.24 ERA), Ranger Suarez (3.13) and Zack Wheeler (2.56). The Mets will counter with David Peterson (2.85 ERA), Sean Manaea (3.26) and Tylor Megill (4.08).
The Mets took the lead for good in the fifth inning. The highlight: Alvarez’s three-run home run, a sure hit into left field. It was his fourth home run in eight games – after hitting just six in the previous 85 games.
Mendoza took Severino out of the game after 87 shots because he looked tired.
“But he found a way to get us six innings,” Mendoza said.
Severino said: “I felt pretty good. I threw over 80 pitches. I think I could have thrown one more (inning). But this is an important series for us. The bullpen was fresh. I understand that. I went out there and gave it everything I had.”
And all of this in front of a raucous crowd of 35,982 spectators, which contributed to a “playoff atmosphere,” as Nimmo put it.
With nine games left in the Mets’ regular season, they are about to turn the corner on their final lap on the road.
“All that pain and everything you’ve been through, it all comes down to this,” Nimmo said. “You definitely have a little more energy, a little more adrenaline for these games.”
Tim Healey is the Mets reporter for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of Hometown Hardball, a book about minor league baseball in the Northeast.
