Reese Kaplan -- 2022 Mets Are About Attitude More Than Pitching or Hitting

A lot of folks have enjoyed the hot start the Mets have made during the 2022 season.  Some attribute it to the stellar starting pitching.  Others call it a result of Buck Showalter's excellence in managing.  Still others feel that it's the innate talent of the players that are putting wins in the standings column.  

To me it's more of a non measurable attribute which is not truly a metric that shows up in the stat sheets nor on the backs of baseball cards.  It's attitude.

Mets fans far and near will surely confess that being down by more than one run in the 9th inning was a recipe for a team loss based upon the 2021 and previous squads of Mets players.  There was no passion, no need to show what can be done and no real reward for having done so.  

Now fast forward to the opening game of the Cardinals series when the Mets were down by not one but two runs going into the 9th inning and were set to face St. Louis closer Giovanny Gallegos.  

While he may not be well known like Aroldis Chapman, Kenley Jansen or others who have made a big name for themselves, Gallegos isn't exactly chopped liver either.  Last year in 73 games he threw 80 innings, giving up just 50 hits and striking out batters at nearly a 5:1 ratio over walking them.  He earned his role as shutdown man.

Unfortunately, he wasn't facing the 2021 Mets.  This time around he had to contend with the group that's propelled themselves to the best record in baseball.  It started innocently enough after being down by two outs and two strikes when Mark Canha reached on a throwing error by normally sure-handed Nolan Arenado.  That put the tying run on base after Eduardo Escobar scored on the error.  

Tying the game was still in the vision of most Mets fans.  What a great story that would be!  Yet tying wasn't exactly what happened.

Jeff McNeil playing like, well, vintage Jeff McNeil doubled to move the tying run to third and himself to second as the go ahead run, but the Mets weren't done yet.  Running on contact when Dom Smith hit what should be a ground out to first, pinch runner Travis Jankowski scored easily and Jeff McNeil never looked back.  He actually came around to score when the normally meandering running of Dom Smith was pushed aside for what is surely the Mets' play of the year.  

Dom ran hard to first and when the throw from an on-his-back first baseman Paul Goldschmidt needed to reach pitcher Gallegos who was late coming off the mound, the burly Smith dove head first into first base to ensure he reached their safely ahead of the pitcher's shoe touching the bag.  You could watch that replay over and over and still get a thrill from it.  This effort was not like anything fans have seen from the Mets in a VERY long time.  

What made it even sweeter is that Gallegos never spun to look at the runner which allowed McNeil to notch his go ahead run from second base on an infield single.  

The Mets still weren't done with the miracle comeback.  Reliever T.J. McFarland replaced Gallegos and promptly served up a 2-run blast off the bat of Brandon Nimmo to take the Mets who were down 2-0 with 2 outs in the 9th to a 5-2 lead going into the Cardinals' final chance which they were not able to exploit.  It was quite a victory but it was that never-say-die attitude that has impressed me the most since the season began and was surely not present in previous Mets' regimes.  

You can say all you want about the technical things Showalter has done to prepare his team for in-game situations, but attitude has been the prevailing and noticeable difference which is making fans confident that the club is capable of winning every game despite the initial on-the-field results.  

Let's go Mets!