One Good Night
One win doesn’t change the season. Sometimes it’s just nice to enjoy a clean, stress-free baseball game.
Wednesday: July 1
After everything Mets fans have endured over the last two weeks, Tuesday night’s game wasn’t about changing the season.
It was about remembering why we watch in the first place.
One win doesn’t erase losing nine of your previous 10 games.
It doesn’t erase sitting 14 games under .500.
It doesn’t erase everything this organization now faces with the trade deadline approaching or suddenly make anyone believe this team is about to make an improbable run.
Yesterday’s reality hasn’t changed.
But every once in a while, it’s okay to put the standings aside for three hours and simply enjoy watching your baseball team play a clean, crisp game.
Those nights have been far too rare this season.
After dropping two consecutive one-run games, the Mets finally looked like a team capable of putting together all three phases.
🔶 Good pitching. Timely hitting.
🔷 Clean defense.
🔶 No unnecessary drama.
🔷 Just baseball.
The Mets shut out the Toronto Blue Jays 3-0 Tuesday night before 41,538 fans at Rogers Centre, earning just their second victory in their last 11 games while evening the three-game series.
🍎 If you read this every day, you already get it. Send this to one baseball fan who doesn’t.
No, it won’t suddenly change the trajectory of the season.
But after everything that’s happened recently, it was refreshing to spend one night talking about what went right instead of everything that continues to go wrong.
For much of the evening, that story belonged to Nolan McLean.
The rookie right-hander desperately needed a bounce-back performance after his previous outing, and he delivered exactly that.
McLean tossed six scoreless innings while striking out seven, recording his first scoreless start of the season and once again reminding everyone why the Mets continue viewing him as one of the organization’s most important young building blocks.
McLean’s Final Line In The Mets Win:
There will be difficult conversations over the next month.
Veterans will likely be traded.
The roster will almost certainly look different by August.
But nights like Tuesday also serve as a reminder that the future isn’t entirely built on hope.
Some of it is already taking the mound every fifth day.
The offense finally gave McLean enough support.
After four scoreless innings, Francisco Alvarez broke the game open in the fifth.
Serving as the designated hitter, Alvarez demolished a 415-foot home run to straightaway center field, giving the Mets a 1-0 lead.
It was his ninth home run of the season and his fourth in his last nine games.
The power from Alvarez is on full display right now -- showing another glimpse of the upside he still has.
An inning later, Luis Torrens added another unexpected contribution.
Known far more for his defense than his power, Torrens launched just his second home run of the season over the right-field wall to double New York’s advantage.
🍎 Baseball fans are reading this every day, join them.
The insurance finally arrived in the ninth.
A.J. Ewing continued doing what he’s done almost every night since arriving in the majors, reaching base with a leadoff single before Brett Baty drove him home with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0.
It wasn’t flashy.
It was simply winning baseball.
Ewing also continued one of the quietest impressive stretches on the roster.
The rookie has now reached base safely in 45 of his first 46 major league games and is hitting .381 with two home runs and a staggering 1.214 OPS over his last seven contests.
Even during one of the darkest stretches of the season, the young players continue giving the organization legitimate reasons to believe brighter days eventually lie ahead.
Then there was the bullpen.
If there has been one constant bright spot throughout this disappointing season, it’s been the arms at the back end of games.
Brooks Raley delivered a perfect seventh inning while striking out two.
Luke Weaver followed with another flawless eighth, extending his major league-leading scoreless streak to an incredible 24 consecutive innings.
Think about that for a second. Two months have passed since Weaver last allowed a run.
Devin Williams handled the ninth for his first save opportunity in nearly two weeks, finishing off the shutout without incident.
Support The Shea Hello Newsletter as a paid subscriber and receive 15% off a paid subscription.
Hall of Famer Bob Lemon once famously said, “The only two things in life I need are good friends and a good bullpen.”
The Mets certainly have the latter.
Whether every member of that bullpen is still wearing orange and blue after Aug. 3 remains another question entirely.
But for one night, they once again slammed the door.
Tuesday didn’t erase the last two weeks.
It didn’t erase the frustration.
It didn’t erase the disappointment.
It didn’t erase the difficult conversations that still await this franchise over the next month.
It simply reminded everyone what competent, winning baseball looks like.
Sometimes that’s enough.
Not because one victory changes a season.
But because after everything Mets fans have sat through recently, sometimes it’s simply nice to spend one night going to bed after a win.
📸 Where Mets History Comes Back To Life
26-years-ago yesterday. Back on 6/30/2000, entering the eighth inning trailing 8-1, the Mets rallied for ten runs and beat Atlanta 11-8. Nine of the runs are scored with two outs, and Mike Piazza capped the comeback with a go-ahead three-run home run 🔽
The Mets enter July having the 3rd best odds to have the #1 pick in the 2027 draft.
As this season continues, the Mets pick will drop 10 spots if they don’t end up in the top 6 after the lottery.
🗞️ News and Notes In Mets Land 🗞️
🔶 The Mets and Christopher Morel are in agreement on a minor-league deal. The deal contains multiple opt outs for Morel, who will report to Triple-A Syracuse. Morel had a .425 OPS this year in 22 games with Miami and has a career .702 OPS in five MLB seasons with the Cubs, Rays, and Marlins.
🔷 Clay Holmes (fractured fibula) will throw a bullpen session later this week. Holmes has been out since April after getting hit in the leg on a comebacker.
🔶 Nolan McLean’s sinker has more carry vs. last season (2.3” to 5.2”) (avg similar sinkers: 7.2”).
🏟️ Around The League 🏟️
🚀 Tampa Bay Rays star Junior Caminero appears to be ready for the HR Derby. He is the first participant to join the HR Derby after finishing runner-up last year. With a homer in Tuesday’s game, he has homered in five consecutive games and sits at 23 home runs this season.
💥 Veteran Joc Pederson is on heater right now. With a third inning homer, the Rangers’ DH has gone deep in 5 of his last 6 games. He is up to 14 longballs on the season. The Rangers won their sixth straight game, with a 4-2 win over Cleveland.
🤯 The Tigers mashed three home runs in the first inning off of Yankees ace Cam Schlittler. Entering Tuesday, Schlittler had never allowed three home runs in a start in his MLB career and only six total this season. The Yankees were defeated for a sixth straight game as they lost 9-3 to Detroit.
📈 Royals catcher Carter Jensen homered on the first pitch he saw to extend his MLB-leading hitting streak to 20 games. It’s the longest hitting streak by a catcher since Buster Posey in 2010.
⚾️ Today the Mets (36-50) play the finale of their three-set against the Blue Jays (40-46) from Rogers Centre. Freddy Peralta (5-6, 4.53) makes the start for New York against TBD (Opener). First pitch is scheduled for 3:07pm. The game can be seen on SNY.
The Shea Hello Newsletter is a weekday newsletter and is dedicated to all things New York Mets. Articles. Pictures. Insight. Exclusive features & content. The wins, the chaos, & everything in between.
⚾️ Baseball fans are reading this every day, join them.
⚾️ If you read this every day, you already get it. Send this to one baseball fan who doesn’t.
Alvarez is an interesting case!! He’s only 24, what would the Mets do if some team comes knocking on their door for him!!
Especially now when he seems to have regained his power stroke!!
Like you point out, every game I think, what a waste of a great bullpen!