The New York Mets' season is over.
Don't get me wrong. The Mets have 24 games left to play and they will play them.
But make no mistake. Their season is over and it all happened in an inning.
The Mets entered the top of the 9th with a 5-4 lead. They would add to that lead. Brandon Nimmo led off the inning with a solo HR. Mets lead 6-4. After Joe Panik singled, Nats manager removed Roenis Elias in favor of Daniel Hudson. The recently acquired reliever from the Blue Jays was no more successful. Facing Todd Frazier, Hudson uncorked a wild pitch advancing Panik to second. Frazier then popped a ball to the first base dugout but catcher Kurt Suzuki got in first baseman Matt Adams' way. This helped Frazier work a walk. Luis Guillorme filed out to left and Thomas Nido grounded out to short, but Trea Turner inexplicably didn't try to turn the double play allowing Frazier to reach second. Jeff McNeil made the Nats pay for Turner's transgression with a 2-run double to give the Mets an 8-4 lead. Pete Alonso put the icing on the cake with his NL leading 44th HR to give the Mets a commanding 10-4 lead. Martinez finally lifts Hudson in favor of Javy Guerra who gets Michael Conforto to fly out to center to end the inning.
With a six run lead heading to the bottom of the 9th, Mets manager Mickey Callaway lifted Seth Lugo in favor of Paul Sewald. Victor Robles led off with a single. Sewald got Howie Kendrick to fly out to right. But Trea Turner atoned for his mental lapse with a double scoring a hustling Robles all the way from first. Mets lead 10-5. Former Met Asdrubal Cabrera singled as did Anthony Rendon which scored Turner. Mets lead 10-6. With Sewald hitting a sea wall, Callaway removed him in favor of Luis Avilan. Juan Soto singled to load the bases. With pinch hitter Ryan Zimmerman representing the tying run, Callaway brought in closer Edwin Diaz to face Zimmerman. Diaz has struggled much of the season, but appeared to have turned the corner. Not so fast. Zimmerman hit an opposite field double out of the reach of Conforto. The Mets lead was now down to 10-8 with Suzuki representing the winning run. I thought Diaz would put Suzuki on to set up a potential double play facing either Gerardo Parra or pinch hitter Adam Eaton. Diaz pitched to Suzuki.
At this point, I moved from my chair to the couch. It didn't make a damn bit of difference. Suzuki took Diaz deep for a walk off 3-run HR on a 100 MPH fastball. The Nats scored 7 runs in the bottom of the 9th and win 11-10. In the Mets' 57 year history which included a 120 loss season in 1962, tonight found a way to lose that Casey Stengel couldn't have conceived.
And that ended the 2019 season for the New York Mets. There is a game tomorrow afternoon. They might win it. But it's probably just as well that it will only be viewed on YouTube. They are 5 games back of the Cubs for the second Wild Card spot and will be 5.5 back by the end of the night. The Mets might finish the season with a winning record. Given they went 27-10 after being 40-50 at the All-Star Break, Mets fans had reason for optimism. Having lost 8 of their last 11 games, that glimmer of hope has been extinguished.
But it just goes to show that Roger Angell is right. There is more Mets than Yankees in our lives and tonight that has never been more true.
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