Handling of Braves about as perfect as it gets for Mets

Handling of Braves about as perfect as it gets for Mets
Mike Vaccaro

Sometime in the dark days of this past January and February, when it actually seemed there might not be a baseball season, there had to have been a day when Buck Showalter allowed himself to ponder what a perfect day at the ballpark might look like for his new club.

Surely, that would involve Jacob deGrom at the peak of his powers.

Surely, that would involve a swing of Pete Alonso’s bat.

Surely, there would come a moment when the winning culture he was hoping to instill would be evident, as well as a contribution from an unlikely source.

And sure, why not, maybe the Mets manager could’ve even envisioned handing Edwin Diaz the ball and believing that he would have an easy-as-pie go of things in the ninth inning.

There were a lot of things that sure felt perfect Sunday afternoon at Citi Field, at the end of what was one of the more perfect weekends the Mets have had in a while. DeGrom was beyond brilliant. Alonso drove in the Mets’ first runs for the third game in a row.

For the second time in two months we saw a Met slide short of an infielder, discombobulating that infielder into tagging the Met without the ball (it didn’t work this time, but raise your hand if you had ever seen this once in your life as a baseball fan, and now you have seen it twice). Joely Rodriguez rose from the dust bin.

And Diaz was ridiculous, as always.

MetsEdwin DiazRobert Sabo

The Mets beat the Braves, 5-2, taking four out of five with a ringing authority that could be heard all the way down on Peachtree Street, with a joie de vivre that made Citi Field feel like the happiest baseball place in the land. It was about 15 minutes ago that the Braves had snuck within a half-game of the Mets.

They staggered off to Boston 6 ½ games back.

“That,” Showalter said, “was fun.”

The park was electric from deGrom’s first pitch, a 99-mph laser that Dansby Swanson lofted toward right field. DeGrom struck out 12. He retired the first 17 hitters to face him. Twenty times, he threw a slider at which the Braves offered; they swung and missed at the first 18.

The ovation deGrom received as he walked off the field reflected what happened all across the weekend at Citi: A team of great promise and great hope has morphed into one that is starting to feel a team that just might have that something extra.

“He was on top of his game,” Showalter said of deGrom. “I wish I was more equipped to say something deserving of his outing. It was something to watch.”

MetsJacob deGromRobert Sabo

All along, as well as things were going for the Mets this year, there was the looming specter of what could still be, whenever deGrom returned. That could’ve been fool’s gold; there was no way to know for sure he could be what he was last year. Yet on Sunday, he was as good as he has ever been. And for one of the few times, Mets fans who’d come to salute deGrom saw his feelings nearly get the better of him as he took the mound for the top of the first.

“I was pretty emotional,” deGrom said. “I needed to take a minute to compose myself.”

DeGrom was the keystone, but there was a lot to be delighted with Sunday afternoon. The Mets’ relentless grinding of starting pitchers continued, and they chased Spencer Strider before the end of the third inning. Alonso’s two-run double got them going offensively. Rodriguez had his finest hour as a Met, getting seven huge outs. And Diaz was Diaz.

Straight off the blueprint.

MetsThe Mets celebrate their win over the Braves on Sunday.Getty Images

“We all have a goal here, everyone pulling in the same direction,” deGrom said. “This is a really cool thing we’ve got going and the goal is to keep it going.”

The 37,717 in the house rose and roared as deGrom walked off the field with two outs in the sixth, after Swanson finally had touched him for a two-run homer.

“That was nice,” deGrom said with a sheepish grin, “but I was pretty frustrated.”

If so, that was one of the few such moments of the day for those with Mets interests. The Mets didn’t clinch the NL East these past four days. But they showed a familiar calling card of toughness. The Braves spent most of June winning every day and chiseling away at the Mets’ lead, eating into almost all of a 10 ½-game edge. The Mets took the Braves’ best shot, and this weekend they delivered a few old-school haymakers of their own.

Not a bad stretch of days at the office. Perfect day at the ballpark. Not a bad weekend, either. Not at all.