On paper, the New York Mets seemed to hold every advantage going into game 1 of the NL Wild Card Series. They had just come off a 100+ win season, making the Padres 89 win season look pedestrian by comparison. They held the home field advantage. They had every major media outlet relentlessly hyping them up and treating the Padres as the obligatory afterthought. To top it off, the Mets had future first ballot hall of famer Max Scherzer taking the mound. What could go wrong?
We couldn’t let this team go into the inferno in Queens without some backup. Padres fans have a reputation for not traveling far and wide to support the team, like say, Cubs fans do. Determined to change this perception, we decided to do our part: we booked a red-eye on Thursday night, which arrived at 7am local time in New York Friday morning. To our great surprise and delight, we weren’t alone. Far from it. Several Padres fans were aboard the same flight making the trek out east to support the team.
Upon finally arriving at the hotel, we caught a few hours of sleep. After putting in a full day of remote work, game time rapidly approached. Though worn out from the long day of travel, we left the hotel amped up and feeling oddly bullish despite the narrative being spun by national outlets like ESPN gushing over the Mets and particularly Scherzer. Had they forgotten that Padres had beaten him in Queens earlier in the year? Had they forgotten that the Padres had put up 7 earned runs against Scherzer just last season in the immortal “Camarena Game?” Padres fans hadn’t. The Friar Faithful were very likely the only people who thought the Padres might have something to say to Mad Max and his cheerleaders in the national media on Friday night. But, as baseball often does, the result on Friday shocked everyone.
Entering the stadium in our Padres regalia, we were accosted several times. In one notable trash-talking exchange, a Mets fan took note of the Soto jersey. “Nice rented jersey dude! (an apparent reference to the Padres perceived inability to sign Juan Soto long term) You know you’re just renting that jersey right?!” came the follow-up taunt. “Kinda like the Mets rented the division this year?!” came our comeback. The night was just getting started.
Another Mets fan commented on our bravery for coming into the stadium unabashedly decked out in Padres attire. We responded that Mets fans aren’t that bad. After all, we’re used to D*dger fans. The Mets fan smiled and gave a knowing nod.
The game itself was electric. From the first pitch there were deafening chants of “Let’s Go Mets!” Unlike regular season games where one sits for most of the game, the crowd stood and cheered every early moment. That is, until Josh Bell strode in. Jurickson Profar, who had reached on a bloop single to start the game stood on first, doing his best to distract Scherzer. Bell worked himself into a favorable 3-1 count and Scherzer made his first, though certainly not last, mistake of the night. Bell’s well-documented struggles as a Padre were quickly forgotten when he absolutely annihilated the 3-1 pitch, going the other way for a loud 2-run homerun, bringing a stunned silence to the crowd. It was pure catharsis for Bell and Padres fans alike. But the night still had more surprises in store.
The Mets, after being punched in the mouth (figuratively) by the Padres to start the game, were restless and eager to return the favor. With Francisco Lindor dancing down the third base line and taking aggressive leads, Padres pitcher Yu Darvish was a picture of serenity. With the crowd sensing their own big inning and chanting his name in a mocking tone, Darvish, ever the the consummate professional, dug deep and wriggled out of the early jam, striking out Mets slugger Pete Alonso in the process.
The biggest shock of the night came in the Padres half of the second inning when the much maligned (not without cause) Trent Grisham hammered a Max Scherzer fastball deep into the New York night. When it came down the Padres were up 3-0. The crowd was shell-shocked. Confusion ran laps around the sea of Mets fans who could not believe their eyes. Disbelief soon gave way to frustration. Complaints about Scherzer’s bloated contract and subpar performance down the stretch came from every audible corner. What Mets didn’t know was that it was going to get a lot worse. As an aside: we at Letters To AJ cheerfully withdraw our criticism of Trent Grisham’s regular season performance as we promised we would if he made a big impact in the postseason. Let’s hope it’s just the start for him.
Thr Padres exploded in the 5th inning, which started with a skillful slap single from Ha-Seong Kim, an opposite field ground rule double from Austin Nola, and then the big blow. A line drive into the right field corner and just over the wall off the bat of Jurickson Profar gave the Padres a 6 run lead. One batter later, Manny Machado, leader of the Padres and NL leader in fWAR, put an exclamation point on the Padres offensive breakout and his own MVP candidacy when he jumped on a Max Scherzer fastball and hit a 110 MPH line drive over the left field wall. Notably, all of the damage done by the Padres in the 5th was the result of swinging on the first pitch of the at bat. In some circles of Padres fandom, swinging on the first pitch is seen as a losing strategy that just helps the pitcher be economical and stay in the game longer. But there is something to be said about ambushing a pitcher, and that’s exactly what the Padres did to Scherzer. Vary your approach is the lesson here.
If the crowd was angry before, it was irate after Manny’s dagger, and proceeded to serenaded Scherzer with boos as the Mets manager mercifully took the ball from him. “I just lost my appetite.” a nearby Mets fan with a half-full bowl of nachos was heard to say. As Padres fans, naturally, we were still standing and applauding Manny for delivering the knockout blow on Scherzer. “Down in front! Padres fans sit down! If you’re wearing brown then sit down!” a Mets fan yelled at us from a few rows back. “You really want to keep watching this?!” we responded. That drew some grudging laughter.
As the game went on, fans yelled insults at each other, with even some Yankees fans getting into it with Mets fans. The stewards kept things well under control and it was mostly just funny to watch.
The Mets fans gradually grew resigned to the result as Darvish kept rolling, including getting through an inning on an astonishingly economical 5 pitches. Darvish ultimately went 7 solid innings surrendering just a solo homerun. Robert Suarez pitched an uneventful 8th, and Luis Garcia slammed the door shut in the 9th as a light rain began to fall. There would be no Timmy Trumpet for Mets fans, except for a few Padres fans drunk on both alcohol and the thrill of victory pantomiming playing the trumpet song Mets fans love so much (trumpets are nice and all, but give us Hells Bells any day). Game 1 comprehensively belonged to us.
We all enjoyed this one, but the work in Queens is far from over. The Mets are pulling out their second big gun, the terrifying Jacob DeGrom, for Game 2. But the Padres are countering with Blake Snell, and we all know what he’s capable of. Game 2 should really be something to watch. With their backs against the wall, it’s do or die for the Mets. Let’s put ‘em in the ground.
LFGSD!