Laura Albanese: Mets' play for remainder of season can be pivotal for future of franchise
Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor watches the flight of his three-run homer during the seventh inning against the Guardians at Progressive Field on Thursday in Cleveland, Ohio. Credit: Getty Images/Jason Miller
CLEVELAND — There is the dour voice that mutters, “Where was all this when the Mets needed it most?”
Where were the 18 hits the Mets got Thursday in their 13-6 walloping of the Guardians — a team not only clawing for a playoff spot but one that boasts the fourth-best rotation in the American League?
Where were the nine home runs the Mets hit during their series sweep at Progressive Field — their first on the road this year and only their third overall?
Where was the grit that allowed them to fall behind and gnaw their way back, as they did Wednesday, when a studiously professional ninth-inning plate appearance by Marcus Semien ended in a walk that allowed them to tie the score on a defensive miscue an at-bat later and win it in the 10th?
Where was the team that saw Nolan McLean give up a demoralizing three-run homer by Nathaniel Lowe in the fifth Thursday and respond with blow after blow — the backbreaker being Francisco Lindor’s towering three-run homer in the seventh?
By the time Guardians catcher Austin Hedges took the mound in the eighth, you could only laugh. Hedges, conscripted into duty because the Mets had scored seven runs in the seventh and eighth and taken an eight-run lead, has mopped up in 11 major-league games in his career — enough of a data set to show that he throws only changeups.
The Mets gamely went first-pitch swinging for most of them. At long last, they were a team that was in on the joke.
It’s understandable to be frustrated. The Mets (50-66) are long out of contention, they parted ways with many fan favorites, the future is murky, and their only task now is to play spoiler.
But if you’re going to salvage your sanity, you should turn to interim manager Andy Green — a captain trying to turn the Titanic into the Carpathia. The ship is going down one way or another, but maybe, if you hit the throttle with all she’s got, there’s something to save.
“There’s a game to be played,” Green said. “You should play to win. That should be the cutthroat competitor every person [who is] in a clubhouse is. The city we play in deserves that, and that’s the identity you want to have. No matter how many times you’ve been hit, you’ve got to show up.”
There’s that word — “identity.” It’s been one of the missing links in this lost season, but there’s a chance something shifted Sunday, the day the Mets boarded a plane to Cleveland and left their old teammates behind.
“A lot of guys we respect, a lot of guys we appreciated walked out the door,” Green said. “Those were tough days. Flying in on Sunday and leaving some guys behind that were likely to be traded, it was really hard.”
On Tuesday, Kodai Senga, who pitched both then and Thursday, when he tossed an inning of scoreless relief, called it “difficult not seeing a lot of the guys boarding the plane.”
And Carson Benge, who went 3-for-6 with an RBI Thursday after homering both Tuesday and Wednesday, acknowledged that losing teammates “hurts.” But he also has the benefit of youth and the promise that comes with it.
“It’s a new group of guys, so getting to know everyone is the first step, but I feel like we’ve already jelled together quite nicely,” he said. “There’s plenty of more depth in this organization.”
The energy, he said, is “the same as it’s always been — go out there and win every game.”
And maybe that’s true, but they simply haven’t managed to do it most of the time.
None of this is to say that this team got better by shedding its best talent. It’s not better for not having Luke Weaver or Clay Holmes, or even Juan Soto, who’s on the injured list. But if they can build on this energy — particularly that of the slew of bullpen arms called up who are fighting for their careers and haven’t had to carry the millstone of failure all season — well, that’s something they can bring into next year.
If they can couple that with the visceral sting of watching their former teammates being left behind, well that’s all the more motivation.
And if they can find a little joy in playing spoiler, all the better.
“It’s on the guys in the clubhouse” to keep the energy going, Green said. “The ability to keep it through adversity is important too because you don’t just roll all season long. [Thursday] we answered back.”
It’s been so rare for the Mets this season, but it is integral if they are to continue building this identity. It might be too late for it to matter this year, but it doesn’t mean it’s too late for it to matter.
Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.
