It was flattened by the haymaker. You can also blame jet lag. You can blame Jack Flaherty for pitching the biggest game of his life. You can blame the Angelino crowd for trying their best to recreate what the Mets enjoyed last week against Queens on behalf of the Dodgers at Chavez Ravine.
You can blame everything. But the harsh truth was this. On Sunday night, the Mets played nine innings as if they were anywhere but the National League Championship Series. Think about it this way. If there is a forfeit in a Major League Baseball game, the official score is 9-0.
This was also the official score for Game 1, with the Dodgers looking like a varsity team and the Mets looking like a JV team.
The Mets had to respond to bullying the way we've always been taught since day one of kindergarten: “bullying the bully.” He throws an uppercut and you throw a straight right. Channel Sean Connery as Jim Malone in 'The Untouchables':
“They send one of you to the hospital and you send two of them to the morgue!”
The Mets may not have sent the Dodgers to the coroner's office Monday afternoon at Dodger Stadium. But they sent a message to the Dodgers, taking a 6-0 lead after two innings and winning 7-3, tying the National League CS at 1-1 and sending the team back to Citi Field. Wednesday's frenzy with the Mets currently holding home-field advantage.
“I wanted to make some noise,” said Francisco Lindor, who of course delivered his pots-and-pans set directly to the crowd of 52,926 on New Year's Eve, jingling the crowd and the Dodgers with a spectacular eight-pitch pitch. The game ended when LA's opening batter, Ryan Brazier, hit a home run into the right field seats.
“I was trying to hit a good ball, and I hit it well,” Lindor said.
And when he did, it had a predictable impact on the rest of the lineup. I could see the Mets exhale. That could be seen in starter Sean Manaea, who pitched well from the beginning. And you could see it in the top of the second inning, when the Mets tried to build an early lead.
With one out, Tyrone Taylor hit a double to Starling Marte to make it 2-0. The rally stalled when Francisco Alvarez popped out to shortstop, but that's when things really started to change for the Mets. Dave Roberts waved four fingers to warn Landon Knack that he was intentionally trying to walk Lindor.
Smart move. It's really the only movement. Lindor was such a believable threat for the Mets that Roberts didn't want him in the mix. Lindor understood. The Mets certainly did. So did all 52,926 people in the house.
Well, even Mark Vientos probably felt it was a wise decision.
But Vientos felt otherwise.
“I thought it was personal, to be honest,” he said.
He took it personally. How great is that? It's been less than a year since Kidd made his major league debut, but the way he shook his head in the circle on deck showed he couldn't believe he was being given this opportunity. You could tell by the way he almost sprinted toward the bat that he planned to make the most of it.
“You want me to be at bat,” he said later, “I'm going to run in.”
He did better than that. He drove four of them. Knack's fastball was traveling at 95.1 mph. It left Vientos' bat at 162.3 mph. And by the time it landed 391 feet away in center field, the Mets had a 6-0 lead. Locals were already grabbing their car keys and looking eager to beat the rush to the motorway.
And the Mets answered a haymaker with a haymaker.
Manaea did what she had to do. The Dodgers, who ended up winning 98 games this year, took advantage of Manaea's fatigue and the fact that he was hit with two grounders and two walks, and scored two runs in the sixth inning to shorten the lead to 6-3 and threaten the Mets. I tried. It was supposed to be out. Angelinos woke up from their sleep.
Then, in the 9th inning, Edwin Diaz stepped up and added some excitement.
But after that, Diaz also decided to build up his strength. After allowing two runners and seeing the game-tying hit reach the on-deck circle, he was no joke, throwing 13 fastballs before forcing Freddie Freeman to whiff on a slider to end the game.
Now Citi Field will be back in the game and Citi Field will be backing up the Mets, but don't worry about that.
“Mets Nation is amazing,” said Lindor, who is rapidly completing his Ph.D. on Amazin'. “I'm looking forward to going home.” And he's not alone.
