He didn’t want to just hit Seranthony Dominguez’s 98-mph shot over the fence. Francisco Alvarez wanted to throw it over the clouds, over the sky, maybe to the RFK Bridge. He settled for 421 feet. That was enough.
That gave the Mets a 4-3 win over the Orioles and a 1-0 lead on a 10-game-in-10-day obstacle course that will take them to Labor Day weekend and either secure their status as postseason hopefuls or set the franchise’s sights on 2025. Some losses are bigger than others.
It was a huge achievement, both for a team battling through a minefield of Orioles, Padres and Diamondbacks, and for a young catcher who had been wandering around in the weeds for nearly two months. Until the moment the bat collided with the baseball, Alvarez had seen only one ball fly over a wall since June 26. Since then, he had given up 64 points from his batting average and 206 points from his OPS.
“It’s been tough for him,” said Mets manager Carlos Mendoza. “He’s struggling, 22 years old and in the major leagues. He’s so dedicated and wants to win so badly. In moments when we’re struggling, he feels responsible, he’s got a lot on his plate. His at-bats have been better, but we haven’t seen that often in games.”
They saw it now, and it was a glorious sight for teammates streaming out of the first base dugout and mobbing Alvarez, too impatient to wait for him to reach home plate. So half of them were already with him halfway to first base. Alvarez didn’t mind. He was in no hurry. He had never hit a walk-off home run before. He was going to savor it.
“I was very excited,” Alvarez said. “They are a very good team and we were able to beat them.”
If you’re wondering why opponents sometimes have angry expressions on their faces… well, the Mets Do enjoy their celebrations. There’s the “OMG” stuff over and over again. There was Luis Severino and Alvarez on Saturday, partying like Larsen and Yogi in 1956. There was Alvarez on Monday night, barely hitting a four-minute home run.
This is sure to get on some people’s nerves.
But they’re also real testaments to life. When you think back to last summer at Citi Field — and the first two months of this season, too — and remember how joyless it was to slog here, it’s mostly a change for the better. As Alvarez said, “We’re home. We have to enjoy these moments.”
Or look at it this way:
On the morning of Memorial Day, the Mets were leading 22-30.
On the morning of July 4th they woke up again at sea level: 42-42.
On Labor Day …
Well, those 10 games will tell us a lot about how well the Mets and their fans will sleep a week from Monday, after they play two more against Baltimore, four against San Diego and three against Phoenix. And it’s funny. In baseball, it’s not supposed to be like that. In football? Sure. What I miss most about the show “Mike and the Mad Dog” were those annual conversations the guys had:
DOG: Week 1 … Giants home game against the Cardinals …
MIKE: That’s a win.
DOG: One and oh! Week two. Giants, home of the Lions…
MIKE: That’s a win.
DOG: Two and oh! Week three, Giants at 49ers!
MIKE: Dog, that’s a loss…
Football? Sure. Baseball? No one in their right mind would ever dare to go through all 162 games play by play, and no one other than St. Francis of Assisi would even think of smiling and listening to it all without running for the door. And frankly, St. Francis himself would probably be begging you to stop by April 15th at the latest.
Still, in small amounts it’s hard to resist.
In this small sample size, the Mets are 1-0. Mendoza saw his rookie catcher hit one home run in 54 days to make it 3-0 and decided: Let’s give him the green light.
“I really appreciated that,” said Alvarez. And soon the ball was racing toward Cambria Heights. One game behind in a 10-game gauntlet, nine to go, 1-0 so far.
“It doesn’t matter who we play against,” Mendoza said. “Our job is to win, and we’re going to do that no matter what happens. We’re not looking that far into the future.”
By the time they launch, Alvarez could finally reach home base.
