Tom Brennan: Back From The Edge of the Brink; Ronald Acuna Jr Pulls a Ronny Mauricio

GET AWAY FROM THE EDGE WHEN YOU CAN. THE ABYSS LIES BELOW.

Standing on the edge of a cliff. Pebbles falling off from the unstable dirt at the edge. The Dodgers up next. On the verge of a 9th loss in 10 games.  

Starting to lose your balance. Beads of sweat.  No plunge protection insurance. 

But…

Two unexpected happened. Both positive.

Adrian Houser threw 4 innings of one run relief and looked sharp. 

Secondly, trailing 3-1, bottom 9 with 2 outs, a 3 run game-winning rally! 

The hot Harrison Bader lashes an 2 out, 2 run double, for his 8th and 9th RBIs in 10 games, and his biggest two of the campaign.

Then the frigid 9 for 60 Omar Narvaez steps in with the score suddenly tied, and voila…a game-winning single. 4-3 win, and a sigh of relief. 

Monday (and the Dodgers) lies just ahead.

Abyss and abysmal are still on the radar in Metsville. But perhaps a little less so...why?

RONALD ACUNA JR PULLS A RONNY MAURICIO

Not all bad things happen just to the Mets. The Braves have taken a second major hit.

Ronald Acuña Jr. pulled a "Ronny Mauricio: 

He suffered a torn ACL, and will miss the rest of the 2024 season.

While leading off second in the first inning, Acuña hurt himself getting ready to possibly run to swipe another base.  Just like Ronny, he didn't.

RIP....

Are the Mets now going to shake off this malaise and be inspired to try to chase down a Braves team missing both Ronald and Spencer?

Elsewhere in Metsville:

Syracuse (31-19) wins yet again. The too-good-for-AAA Jose Butto was excellent for 5 innings, Carlos Cortes and Rylan Bannon both smack 3 run shots, and my guy Rhylan Thomas gets on base 4 times. Also, there was 31 year old Matt Festa, with decent MLB relief experience, as he threw his 3rd scoreless outing for Syracuse. Maybe a ticket to Citi soon?

Next, Binghamton lost a close one, 3-2. Jeremiah Jackson (.167) smacked 2 solo shots in the loss. Jaylen Palmer and Nolan McLean both went 0 for 4 with 3 Ks, as Binghamton batters fanned 15 times. Ryan Clifford went 0 for 4, and is now 4 for 38 in AA, with 20 Ks. Perhaps rushed a bit. 

Those 4 are going to start a barbershop singing group called the Strikeout Quartet. 

Moving on, Brooklyn lost 4-2, with the offensive excitement limited to a triple by 1B/3B Nick Lorusso (.295), who tripled in a run and scored the other. 

Hurler Jonah Tong threw 2 scoreless innings in this start, but was done after just 26 pitches??? Hopefully nothing serious.

Lastly, St. Lucie continued a bad habit, called losing, dropping to 14-31 with a 9-4 loss.

That’s it, folks. 

Thanks to our veterans, who we remember and honor, and who have been instrumental in making this country the greatest ever, and A BLESSED MEMORIAL DAY TO YOU, as we all never forget.

But, before I go, an addendum...

I can't seem to get away from adding “article addenda” anymore...

I wanted to relate to you a true story of how sometimes a really bad circumstance, like a holiday sports injury, could be a blessing in disguise. 

A friend who I’ve not seen in a while, named Harold, tore his Achilles tendon in a picnic football game I was at on Labor Day in the year 2000. He made a cut and heard a rip.   Down he went.

He felt like the biblical Job…."how could this possibly happen, too?"

You see, he made a living delivering office supplies, which required physical health. Up to his neck in bills, Harold, a Mets fan BTW, was physically unable to execute his office supply deliveries for quite a while, as walking was a prerequisite. Out of desperation, weeks later, he went into driving a limousine for a living, even while still initially in a lot of pain, to pay the bills and keep a roof over his and his family’s heads.

A year later on 9/11, as it turns out, he would have still been delivering office supplies had he not been hurt. He made daily deliveries pre-injury to the World Trade Center. 

His usual delivery routine prior to his injury was to deliver office supplies daily to Cantor Fitzgerald, always right at the time in the morning when one of the planes hit their building and killed everyone that worked for Canter Fitzgerald on their floors.

Harold? He clearly would’ve been dead too, but his Achilles injury the prior year, which he saw at the time as his worst possible misfortune, that forced him to change occupations, saved his life.

I don’t know how you see it. 

I know how he saw it, and how I saw it: as Divine Providence. 

Anyway, enjoy your hotdogs. And say thank you to a veteran.