1 week Ago By Jon Heyman
The sellout crowd was alive and electric for the Mets’ first National League Championship Series game at Citi Field in nearly a decade. The Mets couldn’t quite reward the house electricity. For once this October, they failed to match the moment.
This magical, masterful team that’s delivered several thrilling endings and rewritten many unhappy scripts (and game columns) couldn’t get it done for once. For a rare time, there was no fantastic finish. There were no heroics by the home team.
The Dodgers were the team with the late fireworks this time. A majestic home run by international superstar Shohei Ohtani well over the right-field foul pole and just fair (this was the right call, but once again that pole needs to be higher!) and another by Max Muncy in the final couple innings gave the celebrated Dodgers an 8-0 victory and quieted a clearly crestfallen crowd. Someone near the press box screamed late, “Wake the (bleep) up.
” We expect just that, starting Wednesday in Game 4. The team from Queens is down, but we know better than to count them out, of course. They’re down by two games to one in this megamarket, high-rated National League Championship Series.
But comebacks are their game, as we’ve seen time and again in this rocking October. They’ve performed their stunning recoveries over the last few weeks against some of the very best in their league, beating the Braves, the Brewers and Phillies — now all gone from this derby. Now they will have to do it against a team filled with players who deserve their own tributes on the Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard.
If anyone can do it, it’s these Mets. Few teams have come back as consistently as them, and the $300 million-plus Dodgers are missing most of their star-studded rotation, necessitating some improvisation from their excellent manager Dave Roberts. There’s a reason Dodgers manager Roberts called this his “most challenging season,” and the absence of arms is probably reason one through five.
The Dodgers employ a veritable All-Star team of starters, but the vast majority remain out (Tyler Glasnow, Clayton Kershaw, Gavin Stone, Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin, Emmet Sheehan and River Ryan plus of course Ohtani, at least as a pitcher) or slumping to the point of unusable (Bobby Miller). The Dodgers are far short of perfect considering all their aches and pains. So this is doable by a team as clutch and together as these Mets.
Really, it’s surprising now when this club doesn’t get it done. Which is exactly what happened in the first NLCS home game since the days of David Wright and Daniel Murphy. The sellout crowd of 43,883 which braved the October cold deserved better after the near-decade wait.
The fans were primed for the big night that never came. The Mets called upon Doc and Darryl for the first ball ceremony, which was a nice touch, and they got the crowd revved up with “Let’s Go, Mets!” chants. They kept it clean, which was nice, too.
The environment was all energy. The offense never fired, however. The Mets best plays were made on defense, which prevented LA from piling on.
The Mets made two highlight reel plays — one sliding, diving catch by Tyrone Taylor that was reminiscent of the great Tommie Agee play in the 1969 World Series — that momentarily excited the crowd. But they never sparked a lineup that generated little against previously slumping Dodgers starter Walker Buehler and their vaunted and excellent relief corps. While the Mets made a couple special plays (Lindor executed a wonderful backhand scoop on a hot Mookie Betts grounder), the Mets also gift-wrapped two runs early, as some unintentional little ball by the Dodgers resulted in an undeserved lead.
Three makeable plays that weren’t made properly led to the damage. “OMG” was that ever bad. An ill-advised, errant throw to second base by struggling Francisco Alvarez that was both weak and late after he fielded a swinging 10-foot “bunt” set up LA, which bizarrely benefited from two grounders directly back to Mets starter Luis Severino, a decorated fielder.
Severino bobbled the first one long enough to lose a chance to get the lead runner at second much less a potential double play, then misplayed the second for a hit. Severino is a Gold Glove finalist but didn’t field like it. Taylor, an underrated hero in their run of magic, made like Agee, and made a sliding catch on a bid for an extra-base hit and a couple RBIs by Tommy Edman on the warning track in right-center field.
The play was Agee plus (except it didn’t come in a win, or in the World Series). Alvarez compounded his misplay by watching a called third strike with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the inning. He hasn’t hit at all in October.
The crowd was alive with anticipation when Lindor came up next. “M-V-P,” they chanted. Lindor, though, whiffed on a gutsy 3-and-2 breaking ball from Dodgers starter Walker Buehler, ending the Mets’ best threat.
It was that kind of night..
