Ok, maybe calling Game 2 a nightmare for the Padres is a tad hyperbolic… but only a tad. The atmosphere of the stadium was notably more muted than the raucous energy of the night before. Mets fans were tense, not daring to let themselves hope too much lest they be hurt again. After all, staring the Mets in the face was the ignominy of: 1) being the team that couldn’t hold onto the division title despite having had one hand on it for 155 games; 2) being the highest payroll team in baseball history and losing in the wildcard round of the playoffs; 3) having it be at the hands of the of the San Diego Padres, a team far less lucky (no one throws a pity party like a Mets fan) and far less heralded (see coverage of this series by any major media outlet).
From a Padres perspective, we were at least partially relaxed walking into the stadium because we knew that no matter what, we had more baseball to play this year. And we had given the Mets first silver bullet, Max Scherzer, a proper hiding that neither he nor Mets fans will soon forget. Plus, we had our second half ace, Blake Snell, on the mound. Snell had pitched well at Citi Field earlier this year, and seemed to be rounding into his Cy Young form at just the right time. In sum, we felt confident (or at least as close as a Padres fan can ever feel). Unfortunately, that confidence, or whatever you want to call it, was ephemeral.
The Mets had no choice but to fire their other silver bullet in the ace of aces, Jacob DeGrom. DeGrom, despite rumors of a blister injury, came out throwing 102 MPH and mowing down the likes of Juan Soto and Manny Machado, two of the game’s finest hitters, in quick succession. This didn’t look like the DeGrom that had been roughed up in the closing weeks of the season by teams far less talented teams than the Padres. This looked very close to vintage DeGrom, which was bad news for Padres fans and a godsend for Mets fans.
The baseball gods, perhaps feeling like they had been too harsh on them the night before, sent the Mets another gift. Blake Snell, who had pitched at ace level in the second half, inexplicably reverted to “bad” Blake Snell, and at the worst time. Yes, he made a few pitches when needed to and escaped a few jams, but he also served up a meatball to Francisco Lindor to put his team in an early hole. What was worse is that he walked a staggering 6 Mets batters in his brief outing. You could point out that Snell wasn’t that bad, he did only give up 2 runs— and the Letters To AJ crew would say “We have standards and so should you”. This was not a playoff worthy performance by any stretch from Snell.
But, Snell was far from the only Padres pitcher to run into trouble in Game 2. Nick Martinez allowed a solo shot to Pete Alonso, but it was to be Adrian Morejon’s outing where the wheels fell off. Like Snell, Morejon had trouble throwing strikes consistently. Sitting in the stands down the left field line, we were reminded of the Padres pitchers’ control problems by a particularly irritating and tedious saxophone riff that was relentlessly played in every 3-ball count to build tension, though it only succeeded in building annoyance—even amongst Mets fans. Good job Mets production crew! Mets fans, sensing blood in the water, heckled Morejon mercilessly, and it may have affected him somewhat.
To compound Morejon’s control problems was that the Mets hitters began to put up perhaps the cagiest and peskiest at bats of their careers. The at bats of Alonso and Canha specifically stood out. After Morejon loaded the bases with no outs, Bob Melvin had a decision to make. Bring in an ace reliever to limit the damage that the situation portended, or stick with the clearly struggling Morejon who has loaded the bases and thrown 25 pitches without recording an out. Melvin was apparently in a Battle of Crecy mood, and decided to let Morejon “earn his spurs”. The gamble catastrophically failed. The Padres were soon down 7-2, and the game seemed out of reach.
In Melvin’s defense, this wasn’t a win at all costs game for the Padres, whereas it was for the Mets. Melvin could afford to take the risk. Perhaps the thinking was that it was more important to save the frontline bullpen for a possible game 3 than it was to go all in on this game. It was a tough decision and we cannot know what would’ve happened if Melvin had chosen differently.
But, the game was not without its positives. The obvious positives are that the Mets can likely no longer rely on twin aces Scherzer and DeGrom (though they could be in the bullpen…who knows?). The Mets frontline bullpen is also likely depleted since the Mets leaned so hard them in Game 2. Adrenaline can only take you so far.
Another positive was the Padres offense. They showed fight and determination by managing to get the mighty DeGrom to surrender 2 runs. Relatedly, Trent Grisham has been a revelation in this series—homering off Scherzer and DeGrom on back-to-back nights. Has anyone else in baseball done that? He has also played lights out defense in centerfield. We hope that continues. Juan Soto finally made an impact, but the slug from him is still AWOL. Profar, Bell, and Nola put in good at bats against DeGrom and the Mets relief corps. The Padres even managed a ninth inning rally, bringing the tying run to the plate and filling the Mets fans with an almost breathless dread. But it wasn’t to be the Padres night, although it was still a great time. Of all American pro sports, there is no equal to October baseball.
Now the Padres join the Mets in standing on the brink, staring into the oblivion of elimination from the 2022 season. The Padres will look to hometown hero, and recent 9-figure contract signee, Joe Musgrove. Musgrove has an opportunity to live up to the enormous contract by pitching, perhaps, the game of his life (although the first no-no in Padres history is tough to beat).
Make no mistake…nothing is guaranteed in Game 3. The Mets have more pressure, but they showed in Game 2 that they can grind at bats, take advantage of mistakes, and make our pitchers labor for every out, and even every strike. But the Padres have shown that the Mets can throw everything they’ve got at them and still fail to deliver a knockout blow.
Whatever happens, it’s been memorable, and hopefully just a taste of what’s to come, both in this season and beyond.
LFGSD