Citi Field has crackled with big energy before, if only intermittently. Remember Matt Harvey striding across the outfield, his shoes radiating orange, as he prepared to start the All-Star Game in 2013? There was also Yoenis Cespedes’ Home Run Derby that same week, two years before his brief burst as an all-time Met.
Everyone remembers Daniel Murphy’s Babe Ruth month in 2015, and David Wright’s home run in that World Series. Even Curtis Granderson’s catch in the following October’s Wild Card game stands out.
When this place pops, it really pops. But Tuesday night, June 25, 2024, felt different. This 9-7 win over Gerrit Cole and the Yankees, which hummed with crowd energy and withstood a late grand slam from Aaron Judge, felt like a glimpse at what the new Mets — the non-LOLMets of the future — can look like.
The ingredients are in place for a complete change of organizational tone. The manager, Carlos Mendoza, is aggressively changing the culture to one that is more serious and accountable. Ownership is well-resourced and ambitious. The president of baseball operations, David Stearns, projects a steady, thorough competence.
This is not to guarantee that this is the year when winning will begin. This roster is a competitive signpost on the way to potential excellence. But this spanking of Cole and ultimate, if narrow, defeat of the mighty Yanks brought the kind of fun that Mets are working towards making permanent.
While the game hummed along, the celebrity presence lent a flavor of a big night at Madison Square Garden. Donovan Mitchell took batting practice in a Robin Ventura throwback jersey. Queens native Kenny Smith threw out the first pitch and stuck around for a game. Mike Piazza, Darryl Strawberry and Matt Harvey mingled in the suites, and Dwight Gooden watched the field like a hawk from the seats. Citi felt like one place in the five boroughs where you had to be.
For decades, between five World Series appearances and two championships, the Mets have accepted their assignment as New York baseball’s fun but goofy little brother. Too often, stories of wild boars and rats and raccoons and closers decking their father-in-law defined the narrative.
Mendoza has quickly become the face of these new Mets, and their demand to be taken seriously.
When Jorge Lopez throws his glove into the stands, the no-nonsense manager calls it unacceptable, then spearheads a DFA.
Neither is he afraid to note that a star like Edwin Diaz has to be better than to show up on the mound with an egregiously sticky hand, as he did on Sunday night in Chicago. The Mets want to be a serious franchise with standards. You can bet that Mendoza and pitching coach Jeremy Hefner will firmly remind pitchers to be more careful.
“Yeah, we’ve got to move on and stop this,” Mendoza said on Tuesday afternoon. The Mets have accounted for three of the six sticky stuff suspensions since the beginning of last season. The new manager won’t accept it any longer.
In addressing Diaz’s ten-game suspension, Mendoza also noted that the 2024 Mets had dealt with adversity already, and would be able to handle this latest setback. He meant it. And then his team indeed overcame a near-meltdown from its depleted bullpen.
For more than a century, the Yankees’ identity has revolved around excellence and championships. The Mets’ brand is … what? Grimace, or whatever random thing they can grab onto in a given month?
It might not be that way for long. The Brooklyn Dodgers once made a journey from Dem Bums to Jackie Robinson, Branch Rickey and the Boys of Summer. Now they’re a model franchise in Los Angeles. LOL can be a phase; it doesn’t have to be forever.
On Tuesday, watching the bats bully a diminished Cole, and listening to the crowd sizzle, it became easier to imagine the Mets traveling that path from lovable losers to a serious franchise.
What if the team can not only hit this note once, but hold it for a generation?
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