ARLINGTON, Texas — Pete Alonso just shook his head and laughed.
In the ninth inning of the New York Mets’ 14-2 blowout win over the Texas Rangers on Monday, Max Scherzer, with his arms over the railing from the top step of the home dugout, playfully yelled toward Alonso, “Swing the bat!”
Alonso had just walked on five pitches. By then, Rangers catcher Andrew Knizner was working his second inning of relief duty, tossing eephus pitches below 45 mph. Some of them even landed near the edges of the strike zone. They were enticing enough to elicit some chirps from a former teammate. But not enticing enough to swing at, not with a successful day at the plate already accounted for. So Alonso took his walk, heard from Scherzer before reaching first base and chuckled to himself.
Recalling the scene later in the clubhouse, Alonso laughed some more.
THIS is what the Polar Bear is doing in Arlington, Texas 🐻❄️ pic.twitter.com/VtGg4PcO2b
— New York Mets (@Mets) June 18, 2024
That’s the mood around the Mets, winners of six straight. They’re light. They’re lively — when the clubhouse doors opened, a few players were engaged in a conversation about a swing, which has become a newly common thing. They’re laughing.
There’s a good reason for it.
After underperforming throughout the first two months of the season, the Mets have planted themselves back where they were at the beginning: in the conversation for wild-card contention.
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People can point to Grimace, a new hit celebration that players prefer not to share the origin of, their players’ only meeting a few weeks ago or whatever other reason makes for a fun story. And maybe some of that — sorry, Grimace — does help account for better play. But the main explanation for how the Mets have reclaimed relevance mostly comes down to their offense doing the job many expected it to do.
Once the Mets added J.D. Martinez before the end of spring training, one longtime evaluator said the lineup “should be able to bang,” which is scout lingo for an ability to produce big offensive nights. The same scout harbored concerns over the Mets’ starting pitching. He said he viewed them as one of the bottom teams in the wild-card group. He wasn’t alone. Inside the Mets, club officials like Carlos Mendoza believed they boasted a capable lineup.
For a while, though, because of those capabilities, the Mets’ offense frustrated team officials, fans and themselves amid failures and inconsistency.
Lately, things have gone differently.
The Mets’ lineup looks the way scouts described it would be before the season. Which is to say it’s actually looking good. In a crowded National League wild-card field, maybe the Mets’ lineup can help them stand out.
Through 14 games in June, the Mets have scored at least five runs in a game nine times.
“Now that they’re clicking,” Mendoza said, “we see it.”
The Mets recorded 22 hits Monday. They racked up 11 hits, 10 hard-hit balls, nine runs and two home runs against starting pitcher Jon Gray. He entered the game with a 2.17 ERA. Gray failed to record an out in the fourth inning.
The Mets executed their plan against Gray. Seven of their hits against him came within three pitches or fewer into the at-bat. Five came on first pitches. The Mets were aggressive on the fastball without trying to do more than they should — nine of their hits were singles, and the other two were home runs. It helped that Gray left several pitches over the middle, but the Mets pounced on the opportunity, deserving credit.
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Before the game in the batting cage, DJ Stewart and Brandon Nimmo had the same idea. It had been a while since each hit home runs (April 30 for Stewart, May 19 for Nimmo). So they said as much aloud. Then they both hit home runs off Gray.
It was that kind of day.
The Grimace Effect 🟣 pic.twitter.com/aRBKkMFEwZ
— New York Mets (@Mets) June 18, 2024
But it’s also more than one day. Just Sunday, the Mets rocked San Diego Padres starter Dylan Cease for seven runs. The Mets entered Monday with a .709 OPS, ranked 14th in baseball. From May 23 to Sunday, the Mets had a .768 OPS, tops in the National League during that span. The figure, of course, received a bump after Monday’s parade of hits.
In the middle of it all Monday was Alonso, who drove in the game’s first run and went 3-for-5 with a walk. On Sunday, Alonso went 2-for-5 with a home run and five RBIs. Before that, though, he experienced a 2-for-23 skid without hitting a home run. In May, he slashed .234/.293/.439 — decent, but he’s capable of better, especially in big moments where he was failing to come through. On Sunday, Mendoza saw a sign that made him think better results were coming.
Alonso fouled off a pitch. From Mendoza’s perspective, the swing was shorter with more conviction and balance. Seeing it from the dugout, Mendoza said to himself, “OK, that’s what it looks like.” In Alonso’s next at-bat, he hit a home run. Then Mendoza said he thought, “OK, he’s getting close.” Now it looks like Alonso has returned to form.
In doing so, Alonso joined a group of hot hitters deepening a lineup. A few days ago, Mendoza mentioned better timing from Nimmo, who has also bounced out of a funk with four straight multihit games. While the surges of Martinez and Francisco Lindor plus the contributions from players such as Mark Vientos and Starling Marte have helped turn things around, the Mets could use a torrid stretch from Alonso to further sustain their run.
(Photo: Jim Cowsert / USA Today)
Will Sammon is a staff writer for The Athletic, covering the New York Mets and Major League Baseball. A native of Queens, New York, Will previously covered the Milwaukee Brewers and Florida Gators football for The Athletic, starting in 2018. Before that, he covered Mississippi State for The Clarion-Ledger, Mississippi’s largest newspaper. Follow Will on Twitter @WillSammon
