Ont Friday despite a dramatic win the focus was on the Francisco Lindor/Jeff McNeil skirmish and both of those players contributed heavily to the team’s fourth straight win as they beat the Diamondbacks 4-2.
Jeff McNeil homered while Francisco Lindor drove in McNeil after he stole second base which gave the team the offense that they needed on a night the Mets carved out a bullpen game in which Tommy Hunter opened the game with 2 scoreless innings followed by Joey Lucchesi who handed it off to the bullpen as Trevor May notched his first save of the year, They were able to lock this game down without using Edwin Diaz who could set up a game plan for Sunday when Jacob deGrom takes the hill trying to get a series sweep over the Diamondbacks.
It is interesting to note that this week has been an incredible journey through peak and valleys. When you consider this week, the Mets had to deal with coaching changes, a dramatic game in Philly last Sunday, more weather issues, a missed start from their ace Jacob deGrom, injuries to both Brandon Nimmo and JD Davis, it is amazing that they have won 5 of their last 7 games.
And last night all we heard was the Lindor/McNeil fiasco in what must have been a trying and exhausting 24 hours. And yet both of those players excelled tonight. I think it speaks to the maturity of both of them and Luis Rojas agreed when he said, “Things like that will make our family stronger and make us a better team.” This quote falls into the way Rojas runs things. He views instances that could be obstacles as chances to grow and that is why he is the PERFECT manager for this group.
On Sunday the Mets go for a series sweep at Citifield over the Diamondbacks and try to lift their home record to 9-4 as they are making this a place that is a nasty stop for opposing teams. Jacob deGrom has the chore of locking a sweep down tomorrow and it must be real comforting for Luis Rojas to send baseball’s pitcher to the mound to get that done.