Orioles 9, Mets 5 (Citi Field, Flushing, NY)
Mets Record: 65-61
Mets Streak: L1
Mets Last 10: 4-6
WP: Dean Kremer (6-9)
LP: Jose Quintana (6-9)
Seat On The Korner: James McCann
We select the star of the game and virtually invite him to a Seat on the Korner, just as Ralph Kiner used to do for his studio postgame show on WOR-channel 9 broadcasts in the early decades of the Mets.
oday's "Seat On The Korner" goes to a familiar face: James McCann. Playing with a chip on his shoulder and a mask on his face (the result of being hit in the face by a pitch on Aug. 1, staying in that game, and having surgery on his broken nose the next day), McCann had two key at bats early in the game Tuesday. McCann, whose salary is still being paid by the Mets after a trade to Baltimore in 2022, came up with a man on third and one out following Jose Quintana's strikeout of Ramon Urias. McCann culminated a 10-pitch at bat with a sacrifice fly to make it a 3-0 game. After the Mets and O's traded runs, McCann crushed a 408-foot home run into the second deck with a man on and it was 6-1. That makes 8 RBI in his last 2 starts against the Mets after a 5-RBI game last summer in Baltimore. Never a beloved Met by the Citi Field faithful, you could see the makings of a smile underneath the mask beneath the mask.
Need To Know:
Outfielder Ben Gamel, who hit .217 in 30 plate appearances with the Mets, was designated for assignment to make room on the roster for Starling Marte's return. Gamel was claimed on Tuesday by the Houston Astros.
The Mets have a long and interesting history with Baltimore, even though the teams did not play a regular-season game against each other until the Mets' 35th season. Of course, the Miracle Mets beat the Orioles in the 1969 World Series in one of the great upsets in Fall Classic history. A handful of Baltimore natives have places in the annals of Mets baseball.
Baltimore native Frank Cashen, a member of both the Mets and Orioles Halls of Fame, was general manager of that '69 Orioles team and later rebuilt the Mets from scratch in the 1980s. He brilliantly put together the 1986 world championship team. Cashen was clearly the best Mets GM.
Damon Buford was no household name during his brief time with the 1995 Mets, but his father, Don Buford, a member of the Orioles Hall of Fame, battled the Mets in October 1969. Don led off the 1969 World Series with a home run off Tom Seaver, but he had only more more hit the rest of the Series and had trouble tracking down a couple of crucial flyballs in left field that helped New York win Games 4 and 5. Damon was also originally an Oriole and his biggest contribution to Mets history was his arrival to New York with Alex Ochoa in the Bobby Bonilla trade in July 1995. Damon was traded to Texas that winter and played through 2001 in the majors.
Phil Linz was best known for his work with the harmonica and running late 1960s New York hotspots like Mr. Laff's (Linz' nickname). During a tense bus ride from Comiskey Park in 1964, Yankees manager Yogi Berra got into a heated argument with Linz for playing his harmonica following a tough loss to the White Sox 60 years ago today. (Mickey Mantle gets the assist for telling the infielder, "Yogi says to play it louder.") The Yankees pulled out the '64 pennant and Linz hit two World Series homers in the seven-game loss to the Cardinals. Linz came to the Mets in July 1967 and ended his career after 1968. Gil Hodges asked Linz to stick around for the 1969 season, but he opted to go full-time managing his eateries.
Saving the best for last: Ron Swoboda. This son of Baltimore was seen as the Mets future power source when he came up under the tutelage of Casey Stengel in 1965. A lovable guy who always went his own way, Swoboda got under the skin of some of the more conservative Mets. But he had a flair for the dramatic. He platooned in right field with Art Shamsky on the '69 Mets. Swoboda's pair of two-run home runs saddled Steve Carlton with the loss on the night he became the first pitcher to fan 19 in a nine-inning game. Everybody remembers Swoboda's unlikely diving catch that saved the day in the ninth inning of Game 4 of the 1969 World Series, but not as well known is how Rocky plunged the dagger into the heart of his hometown team when he hit the tie-breaking double in the eighth inning of Game 5. He was on the field (along with thousands of ecstatic fans) when the Mets clinched the World Series the next inning.
The series concludes with a 1:10 Wednesday matinee. Sean Manaea (9-5, 3.46) takes the mound for the Mets. The Orioles had scheduled former Phillie Zach Eflin to start, but he landed on the injured list.
Turning Point
After a thrilling game with a playoff-type atmosphere on Monday night, climaxing with a raucous celebration on a walkoff home run Francisco's Alvarez, the humdrum of the long season returned quickly Tuesday night. It started early. Anthony Santander launched a two-run home run off Jose Quintana. It was the switch-hitting slugger's 37th home run and 11th from the right side. Quintana allowed two home runs in five innings, giving him 22 gopher balls on the year and putting him in the top 10 in the major leagues in that dubious category.
Three Keys:
Kicking the Ball Away
The Mets dropped back to 2-1/2 games behind the Braves for the third Wild Card spot with the 9-5 loss to Baltimore. Despite playing uninspired ball for most of the game, the Mets made it a 7-5 game after an eighth-inning rally. The momentum disintigrated the following half inning. A sinking fly to left clipped off the glove of a sliding Brandon Nimmo, who admitted after the game he was trying to protect the shoulder he had an MRI on before sitting out Monday. The ball bounced away and speedy Cedric Mullins was sure to score, but Nimmo chucked the ball home off the mark. Reliever Danny Young grabbed the errant throw and threw the ball back to Nimmo in left field (on several bounces). Another run scored, the Mets were charged with two errors on the play, and Gunnar Henderson was credited with an RBI. The score now stood at 9-5. Earlier in the game, another ugly play occurred in the fifth when a swinging bunt was pursued by Francisco Alvarez and Joe Quintana, leaving home plate uncovered and hustling Colton Cowser took two bases on the play and scored.
There Was a Moment...
The Mets had just two hits through the first seven innings, but four straight Mets reached base in the eighth, with all of them scoring. Francisco Lindor doubled, Mark Vientos reached on an error by Gunnar Henderson, Brandon Nimmo doubled in a run, and J.D. Martinez blasted a three-run home run. (It was J.D.'s second home run in as many nights and his 37th career blast against the Orioles, 14 more than he has against any team.) The score was suddenly 7-5! Then the fun was over. The Orioles removed Burch Smith for the much-harder-to-hit Yennier Cano and the comeback fizzled. The Mets went down in order in the ninth against Cano and Craig Kimbrell.
Mets Can't Catch a Break
Brandon Nimmo made a brilliant play on a fly ball to left field while crashing into the wall in the second inning. The umpires initially ruled it a catch as he juggled the ball five times before seeming to corral it, but upon further review the call was overturned and the play went for a leadoff triple by Colton Cowser. He was knocked home on a sacrifice fly by former Met James McCann.
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