Favorite Mets games of 2022 series: Paul Articulates on May 19th

The Mets had come out of their early schedule against primarily NL Eastern Division rivals in good shape with a 22-11 record, and were about to face some other competitive teams from the rest of the league with two home series against the Mariners and the Cardinals.  The Mariners were an up-and-coming AL team that featured exiting rookie outfielder Julio Rodriguez and the Cards are a perennial favorite to make the playoffs with a long pedigree of success.

The Seattle series did not go so well, with former Met Paul Sewald showing his old team what he was capable of by getting the win in the first game and then Carlos Carrasco and Calvin Shreve got lit up in the third game as the Mets dropped their first series of 2022 after going 10-0-1 in their prior eleven.  

In came the formidable Cardinals, who the Mets had found hard to beat in recent years.  After a rainout and a doubleheader split the Mets won game 3 of the series with a big five run 8th to seal the win on an otherwise grim day that saw Max Scherzer exit with an oblique injury.  Now came the final game of the series and an opportunity to take a series win against their central division nemesis.

Chris Bassitt made the start for New York against Dakota Hudson. The Mets got off to a quick start with a 2-0 first inning lead, making it the 8th time in 9 games that they scored in the first inning.  It wasn’t going to be easy, as the Cards came back with homers in the 2nd and 3rd to tie it, then Paul Goldschmidt continued his hot series with a run scoring double to give the Cards a 3-2 lead in the 5th.

The Mets showed us something in the bottom of the inning that they did regularly during a stellar season – they came right back from adversity by putting runs of their own up and retaking the lead.  It was one of those innings with multiple hits and productive outs, with three runs scoring on a grounder to the right side and a bases-loaded single.  

The latter came from Jeff McNeil, who was hitting over .400 with RISP at that point.  Unfortunately St. Louis plated runs in the 7th and 9th to tie it, with the tying run scoring on a ground ball that was booted by Eduardo Escobar although it was later ruled an infield hit plus an error allowing a runner to advance. This game would go to extra innings.

The Cardinals scored a run in the top of the 10th on a double play grounder to retake the lead, putting the Mets backs against the wall if they wanted to win the series.  Francisco Lindor had made the last out in the 9th, so he began the NY 10th on second base with Pete Alonso at the plate.  

On Alonso’s second pitch, he launched a 447 foot no-doubter deep into the second deck in left field.  The 28,801 fans in attendance erupted as the Mets celebrated a winning home stand, a winning series against a tough rival, and another chapter in the resilient Mets’ season.

This was one of my favorite games because it showcased some of the traits that made the Mets successful all year and it legitimized the team as a threat by beating a good team that always seems to have the upper hand against them.  The Mets would go on to win the 2022 season series against the Cards 5 games to 2; their first series win over St. Louis since 2014.  

The other encouraging sign coming out of this game was that they showed no let-down after the second of their two aces had gone down to injury on the prior day.  They were now 26-14 on the season and 3-0 in extra innings.  They had won 11 of 13 series and held the lead in the toughest division in the NL.  There was a lot of season to play, but these Mets were looking better than anyone they had faced.

I remember these days fondly, because each game, each series was fun to watch and continued to build a sense that they were going to have one heckuva season.  This particular game was important because of who they beat.  There would be many more memorable games during the season, including another one against this same Cardinals team.  If you had a favorite, mention it in the comments and one of Mack’s writers will take it on.