You’re telling me that Buck Showalter couldn’t return to his major league bunker for three years because new team owners and front office staff thought the old school principal would demand too much power?
Oh my dear God.
The Queens’ cultural shift has been as dramatic as the shift in the Mets’ record from 77-85 in 2021 to 69-39 (and counting) this year, After sweeping 8-5, 6-2 double-headed brave On Saturday he extended his lead in the division to 5 games… and with Jacob Degrom on Sunday at the end of this five-game group, in which the hosts won three of their first four games.
Last year, fans and players booed each other. This year, there’s a mutual love flowing from the stands to the field and back again, with more than 30 .500 Mets for the first time since 2006.
“It’s what you play for,” Max Scherzer said after seven rounds of bravery in Game 2 during which he scored 11 hits during the 108th season. “We’re just playing great baseball right now.”
The Mets play an old school attack style game while mixing just enough bragging and determination to appeal to all generations, those who have been here since Hobie Landrith hit the 257-foot-tall pop. Down the right line at the Polo Field with one man and two men out in the ninth inning to beat Warren Spahn in April of 1962 and those caught when Scherzer signed last December.
They’re playing hard ball, the way Pete Alonso did as he headed to second base for a double-play break in the third inning of the Cup of the Night. This hustle led to a throwing foul by Dansby Swanson that led to the third round of the game. It was Alonso who later came in strong on Travis Darno and beat Austin Riley’s third throw to make the score 4-0.
“Donnie was a guy who didn’t run very well but he was a great basic runner,” Showalter said, referring to Don Mattingly. “Just because you won’t win some sprint competition doesn’t mean you can’t be a good primary runner.
“He is very proud of him.”
They are ready and bold, The way Louis Gillorm was at the top of the fifth game From the second match. The Braves, trailing 3-0, had riders in first and third by one margin. He returned the field when Iyer Adrianza hit the ball ground for second. Rather than making the easy decision and conceding a run, Guillerme hit an 88-mph shot for Thomas Nideau, who neatly flagged Darno’s glider to pry Atlanta off the board.
It is an opportunist, taking advantage of the mistakes of the coercive and non-coercive opposition in the way they did on both ends of that mistake. Francisco Lindor, who was more relaxed and dynamic in his sophomore year in New York, was at first base with two in the third game of the first game with his team leading 2-0, when Jake Odorese’s throw sailed the spoils zone, allowing Lindor to take base the second.
Moments later, Lindor was crossing the board in Jeff McNeill’s RBI song into right field and the Mets were 3-0 . ahead On their way to win 8-5. There are no mini plays in this game. There are no young players on this team.
Mets can run, they can hit and they can throw. They scored the third-most number of rounds in the NL, trailing only the last two World Series winners, the Dodgers and Braves. They are third in the league in hitting average, second in percentage based on base and fourth in OPS. Their promotional staff ranks second in the ERA after the Dodgers.
The Bulls were exhausted entering Game 2. Edwin Diaz was unavailable after being forced to work in the opening game after the Braves scored three runs in the ninth inning. But Scherzer, as usual, took care of that, ending the outing with a boom by hitting the side on the seventh.
“Going to seven, that’s my job,” said Sherzer, 9-2 with a 1.98 ERA. “I’m proud of myself for that.”
On Sunday, DeGrom will start for the first time at home since July 7, 2021. There are four more games between these teams coming up, in Atlanta starting August 15. The Mets are in an excellent position to claim the division’s permanent title.
remember this. The first place team will receive a farewell in the first round. The runner-up will get a Top Three in the first round, most likely against Padres.
any questions?
Other than asking: What were all those other teams thinking in the past three years when Showalter was available?
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