File photo/TheNYExtra.com
Mets Beat the Giants 8-4 on a Big Pete Alonso Day by Rich Coutinho/TheNYExtra.com
When Pete Alonso got to the park today he found out he was named as an All-Star reserve for the third time becoming only the second Met first basemen to do that with Keith Hernandez the only other Met to accomplish that feat. During the game, he appeared on the ESPN Sunday Night broadcast also revealing he planned on being part of The Home Run Derby as he will try to win it for the third time in his career.
During the game, Alonso was a huge part of the Mets taking the rubber game from the Giants winning their first series in over a month. His bases loaded walk tied the game and he put the exclamation point on the win with a booming 2 run homer in the 8th inning. Mark Canha also homered for the team while Tommy Pham stayed hot with a 3 hit night and both Jeff McNeil and Starling Marte got big RBI hits.
David Peterson started the game and pitched OK but got picked by a bullpen that got huge outs from Brooks Raley, Adam Ottavino and David Robertson. But more importantly, the Mets finally won a series and can take that momentum on a road trip that will take them to Arizona and San Diego for 6 games leading up to the All Star break.
This game also illustrated the worm may be starting to turn as the team got some bloop hits that found the outfield grass after weeks of hitting line drives right at gloves. They still have a huge hill to climb to get back in the playoff race but the door was opened just a slice on this night and now it is up to them to take advantage of that chance. Right now they are 8 games off the pace of that third wildcard spot and there are 5 teams between them and the Giants who own that 3rd spot. But just 2 days ago they were behind six teams and were 10 games behind the Giants so they have made a slight move up the standings this weekend.
If we learned anything from last year, teams can move up those wild card standings in a hurry if they just take care of business putting games in the win column. To achieve that, a winning streak is the best way to climb ladders in the standings as the Reds proved this past month. But the more realistic view is keep taking series after series and this team needs to do that on the next road trip that begins on Tuesday.
On this day, Pete Alonso got rewarded with an All Star selection and was a big reason the Mets took this series. And can the Mets get back in the race? I have seen stranger things happen like last year when the Phils pushed into the playoff discussion after the break. Can history repeat itself for the Mets? It will clearly be a tough road but this team took a tiny step in that direction Sunday night at Citi.
