ATLANTA — I’ve seen this horror film earlier than and the Mets don’t get out of this haunted home alive.
The solid adjustments — for either side — and the set adjustments because the Braves transfer ballparks each 20 years or so. However the outcomes?
It isn’t simply that the Mets got here to Atlanta and misplaced on Tuesday night time. It’s that all of it seemed acquainted. They performed poorly in each part. The Braves performed effectively. Atlanta heart fielder Michael Harris was such a Met-killing Chipper off the outdated block that you might persuade me he’s going to call his subsequent born little one Citi.
The ultimate of the opener of this pivotal sequence was 5-1 and when Sport 2 may be performed — Wednesday, Thursday or a part of a doubleheader subsequent Monday (a.okay.a. the day after the common season ought to be ending and the day earlier than the playoffs ought to be starting) is unsure.
The Mets’ wild-card lead over the Braves was sliced to 1 on the identical day that Georgia governor Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency, bracing for Tropical Storm Helene, which can hit land as a Class 3 hurricane. It’s purported to rain closely Wednesday and biblically Thursday. Thus, the downpour the Mets and their proprietor, Steve Cohen, have been envisioning — of champagne — may not arrive in Atlanta (if in any respect).
The Mets may guarantee a wild card and that celebration with two victories in opposition to the Braves. But when the Braves win as soon as extra in opposition to the Mets, it might give them the season sequence and the playoff tiebreaker if the 2 golf equipment completed tied.
Every time it might come (if it comes), Cohen is so hungry for his first champagne dousing as Mets proprietor that regardless of agreeing to host his fiftieth highschool reunion at Citi Subject on Saturday, he plans to skip it if the Mets can clinch that day in Milwaukee. When the Mets have been wild playing cards in 2022, they’d a champagne toast. That’s as a result of within the penultimate sequence of the 12 months, they have been swept out of first place in Atlanta and, thus, the runner-up celebration was muted when it got here.
Earlier than the primary pitch Tuesday within the penultimate sequence of this season, Cohen had insisted that unhealthy mojo from enjoying on this metropolis was not in his present group’s muscle reminiscence as a result of the roster had modified a lot in two years. However every thing from the ballpark to the gamers to Mets possession had been altered since 1998-99 when, first, the Braves swept the Mets within the remaining sequence of 1998 to maintain them from the postseason after which eradicated them in NLCS Sport 6 in 1999.
The faces change. Not the theme. The Braves moved to the NL East in 1994 and since have received 18 division titles and two World Collection whereas the Mets have two division crowns and no championships. The Mets are actually 25-37 at Truist.
“We didn’t play effectively,” Carlos Mendoza acknowledged. “We’ve got to show the web page. I do know it’s going to be a narrative as a result of it’s right here in Atlanta. We’ve got to exit and do it. We’re nonetheless able to exit and win a sequence right here.”
Maybe the Mets might be higher positioned for a rewrite. After not beginning for an eighth straight sport as a consequence of a again ailment, Lindor was within the on-deck circle because the sequence opener ended and is in play to begin if there’s a sport Wednesday.
As for Tuesday, the tone was set within the first inning. The Mets have been retired 1-2-3 on seven Spencer Schwellenbach pitches. The Braves additionally didn’t rating, however Harris fouled off 5 two-strike pitches earlier than a single and Luisangel Acuña botched a double-play ball, resulting in Severino throwing 25 pitches.
Schwellenbach, a rotation savior after rocketing up the minors, held the Mets to no hits in six at-bats with males on base and only a Mark Vientos homer in seven innings. In 4 innings, Severino endured 33 foul balls, 14 with two strikes because the Braves expertly prolonged at-bats. Within the third, the pitcher and Francisco Alvarez collided on a swinging bunt and Severino errantly threw the ball down the road. Earlier than the inning was over, Starling Marte would airmail a cutoff man. In between, Harris would double within the first run in a three-run body. He homered within the subsequent inning and made a diving catch to rob Acuña of a success within the inning after that.
Now, the Mets should take care of NL Cy Younger frontrunner Chris Sale and longtime Atlanta ace Max Fried, climate allowing.
“They’re a superb staff,” Brandon Nimmo mentioned. “They’re not simply going to roll over and die for you. So, we all know that we’re up for a problem.”
As we all know, the nightmare killer by no means rolls over and simply dies in this type of film. Nonetheless, Nimmo additionally dismissed the ghosts of Atlanta, mentioning the altering solid from two years in the past as effectively. It’s greater than two years, although. It’s a quarter of a century of 1 staff proudly owning one other. The Mets of Cohen/David Stearns/Mendoza are attempting to show it’s a new day.
Within the horror film, the recommendation is rarely to return into the haunted home. The Mets have returned. Can they write a distinct script?
