Forget about the wild-card standings and those pesky Reds for now.
The NL East race ain’t over. And the Mets aren’t done with the Phillies just yet.
Maybe that seven-game deficit felt insurmountable when the enigmatic Kodai Senga squared off against Cristopher Sanchez, Philly’s de facto ace, for Monday night’s series opener at Citi Field. On paper, it didn’t look good for Carlos Mendoza & Co.
But it now seems relevant to bring up that other seven-game deficit, back in 2007, when the Mets had the exact same lead on the Phillies, with only 17 games remaining on the schedule. We all remember how that turned out.
Why can’t these Mets flip that script and get some measure of revenge all these years later? There’s still 31 games left, and after watching them rally back from an early 3-0 deficit to completely dismantle the Phillies during Monday’s 13-3 blowout, the Mets didn’t appear ready to settle for a wild-card berth.
“I think anything’s possible,” Brandon Nimmo said. “Tonight was great. We did amazing. But it doesn’t count for tomorrow. It shows what this team is capable of on an everyday basis. We know this team is extremely capable, but it’s doing it day in and day out.”
Every Mets starter (aside from Francisco Lindor) had at least one hit as they racked up 14 overall — 11 with runners in scoring position, the most since 2017. And on the same day Mendoza expressed optimism about Francisco Alvarez’s progress, it was his backup Luis Torrens who did the most damage with a career-high five RBIs, including a three-run homer that iced the W in the seventh inning.
Torrens, the No. 9 hitter, was part of the lineup’s bottom trio with Tyrone Taylor and Jeff McNeil that did most of the damage, going a combined 8-for-13 with nine RBIs. Mark Vientos, once again the sizzling Swaggy V, extended his hitting streak to eight games with a pair of RBI doubles and he’s now batting .387 (12-for-31) with 13 RBIs over that stretch. “I think we’re doing what we expect ourselves to do,” Vientos said.
Remember when we were burying the Mets as a terrible baseball team for two-plus months, a $333 million roster playing well below its price tag, a mojo-less group that felt a Grimace short of a playoff spot? Let’s set all that aside for now.
Beating the Phillies on one late August night doesn’t secure anything in the big picture. But what it does do is keep the Mets very much alive in the NL East, and with six more games against the Phillies, it’s way too early to rule anything out.
Since June 13, the Mets had been one the worst teams in the majors, playing 14 games under .500 (22-36) before last weekend’s series win in Atlanta. And somehow, the dream of a division title is still within reach.
“We put ourselves in this position,” Mendoza said. “We’ve been inconsistent. But also understanding that we’ve got a few games here [against the Phillies] and we can’t look too far ahead. I think the mentality is going to continue to be one day at a time. We got a job to do and we got to continue to win games.”
Monday night was a must-win for the Mets as far as the division is concerned, and not only did they accomplish that mission, but the manner in which they won spoke volumes about this team’s flickering potential. They could have caved when Senga put them in a 3-0 hole, but he dodged enough bullets during his shaky four innings to prevent the game from getting out of hand, stranding six — including four in scoring position.
At that point, Senga merely surviving didn’t feel worth celebrating. But he bought just enough time for the Mets’ bats to awaken, and their three-run rally in the fourth sparked to life against Sanchez with two outs and the bases empty.
It began with a little Phillies’ help. Pete Alonso reached on a two-out single, took second when Sanchez caught his cleat on the mound for a balk, then raced to third on a wild pitch. Next up was Vientos, who pulled an RBI double down the third-base line, Nimmo followed with a run-scoring single and Jeff McNeil slapped the tying single through the left side of the infield.
From there, the Mets never looked back. Vientos put them ahead to stay with another RBI double in the fifth inning, Torrens and Starling Marte each drove in a run in the sixth and the Mets blew it open with four more in the seventh. This time, the Mets tacked on enough insurance to make their lead bullpen-proof, but the relief corps still supplied four scoreless innings anyway.
“The great part is we did enough in the first half to put us in a good position come September,” Nimmo said. “It’s really just going to come down to who plays really good baseball for these last five weeks because everything else is in the past.”
The Mets send out the shaky Sean Manaea to oppose Jesus Luzardo Tuesday, then the electric rookie Nolan McLean faces old friend Taijuan Walker Wednesday. It doesn’t get any easier from here for Mendoza & Co., but all they wanted was a chance, and Monday night’s inspiring comeback victory kept that NL East door open.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball’s Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
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