Baseball seasons are long marathons but sometimes individual games bring important concepts to the table and last nights Met win over the Reds falls into that category. It is so easy to give credit to a team on nights when everything goes right but those games that test their resiliency can usually analyze their ability to be successful and the Amazins’ proved that on this night.
It was another game that the Mets surrendered late inning runs but this time they survived it getting big outs from Drew Gagnon to push the game into extra innings and then J.D. Davis and Jeff McNeil got hits setting the stage for Pete Alonso‘s first walk-off RBI highlighting a glorious month for the rookie first basemen.
But this game was more about the character of this Met clubhouse–constantly picking each other up as on this night Jeurys Familia needed his team to put his meltdown buried in the story of this game as they survived a game which I am sure would have sit in the “L” column a year ago. It also speaks to the resolve of this team to fight through those tough moments which every squad faces in a long season.
McNeil certainly furthered that resolve and noted that just getting the “W” was important, however it needed to happen.
And it also sets the Mets up well as Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard finish the homestand giving them a shot at going 6-4 in these 10 home games which would be more than acceptable in an early-season stretch. From the moment I stepped foot inside the Met clubhouse in Port St. Lucie I could see that they could handle adversity and it was a point Mickey Callaway made to his team every single moment he spoke to them getting ready for the season.
I had a chance to talk to Mickey about that on numerous occasions and he has told me that is something he needs to hammer home even when things are going well. It is definitely a notion I did not see last year and give Mickey credit for making it a battle cry in 2019. You see it constantly as even players fighting for playing time support each other much in the way I saw players that Terry Collins‘ manage behaved in 2015.
It is a by-product of caring as much about each other as you do about yourself and it defines a team that will get the job done no matter what obstacles get in their way. And Mickey and the coaching staff deserve credit for leaving that notion as an indelible mark on the souls of their players.
It is something that will guide this team through those moments that make things tough and let the media know that no matter what happens on the field you will always get accountability from the players and support for their teammates in times of trouble. Familia was that guy last night and to a man in that locker room, every player I spoke to told me that they were so glad they bailed him out because they know most times he will bail them out.
