Mets looking to make new, better memories in Atlanta
Mets outfielder Starling Marte catches a pop fly hit by Atlanta's Marcell Ozuna in the first inning of a game Tuesday in Atlanta. Credit: AP/Jason Allen
ATLANTA - For the Mets, this place has long been the house of horrors - a reminder of past failures and dashed hopes.
In 2022, it was here at Truist Park where a three-game sweep cost them the division, despite having won 101 games. And though it happened 15 miles away at the old Turner Field, fans would be hard-pressed to forget Kenny Rogers walking Andruw Jones with the bases loaded in Game 6 of the 1999 NLCS, sending the Mets home.
In the 25 years since, it’s as if that incessant, nagging tomahawk chop has followed this organization. So often, it's felt like all roads lead to Atlanta, and for the Mets, Atlanta has been nothing more than a dead end.
So Tuesday, they rolled into this park looking to exorcize the demons that were first created here. Surely, this team - the one that’s been almost untouchable since June - couldn’t possibly come all this way just to recreate a nightmare, right?
To which Atlanta responded: It’s still us, and you’re going to have to do a lot better than that.
In the standings, the Mets' 5-1 loss Tuesday didn’t cost them their wild-card spot. They still have a one-game lead on Atlanta. They’re still masters of their own destiny. But their play was troubling, at best. For the first time in a long time, they didn’t do much of anything all that well. Luis Severino struggled, the offense, save for Mark Vientos, did nothing, and they had a series of fielding miscues that lent an air of hopelessness to their efforts.
It felt like this team was being systematically stripped of its swagger. They became Superman without the yellow sun, Green Lantern without his ring. And that’s a big problem this late in the game, even if guys like Carlos Mendoza and Brandon Nimmo pooh-poohed the idea that the franchise’s historic failures here follow them still.
“It’s a different team” from the 2022 Mets squad, Nimmo said. “They’re a good team. They’re not just going to roll over and die for you. We know we’re up for a challenge.”
Challenge doesn’t really fully describe it, though. The next few days could end up being a referendum on this entire season, and for a host of reasons.
The Mets, right now, are a slave to uncertainty. Ace Chris Sale is slated to pitch tomorrow, and that’s if they even play. There’s a tropical storm bearing down on Atlanta, and after the game Mendoza still had no idea what MLB planned to do (the league was still evaluating scheduling possibilities as of Tuesday afternoon, according to a source - the rain is supposed to start Wednesday, and Tropical Storm Helene is expected to hit the area in earnest on Thursday).
Francisco Lindor was still out of the starting lineup with mysterious back pain - so far, a CT Scan, MRI and bone scan haven’t turned up any structural issues - though he did grab a bat and was ready to pinch hit. And, through it all - whether they play two Wednesday or need to make up a game at the end of the season Monday - the Mets still have to prove that Atlanta doesn’t have their number.
“We’ve still got a chance to win a series here,” Mendoza said. “We didn’t play well. We didn’t [make a] play a couple of times. We missed the cutoff man one time. We’ve got to turn the page. I know it’s going to be a story because it’s here in Atlanta and we haven’t [played well here in past big games]. We’ve got to go out and do it.”
Granted, there’s reason for him to be optimistic. They came into the day 65-36 in their last 101 games - that .644 winning percentage was the best in baseball in that span; they also outscored opponents by 119 runs in that stretch.
But for that to matter, they’ve got to play cleaner, and with more energy than they did on Tuesday. The mascots are fun. OMG is a great song. Their pitchers’ celebrations are the ultimate good vibe. But that's just window dressing if they can't prove that this team is different from the ones that came before it - especially here in Atlanta.
Nimmo says he believes, and Tuesday night, he pointed to the fortunate hop they got against the Phillies Sunday - the Francisco Alvarez throw that hit the third-base bag but popped up instead of away, preventing what would have been the tying run to score in the ninth.
“I’ve never seen that,” he said. “And sometimes, when things like that happen, you’re like, ‘OK, things are bouncing our way.’...Games like [Tuesday’s] are going to happen. Sometimes there are going to be games like this, so I think tomorrow, you just start fresh and that’s the thing. You try to have short-term memory.”
Just because it’s a cliche, doesn’t make it less true. The Mets’ past here has done them no favors. Now, they need to forget it long enough to build a future.
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.