BUFFALO — After awhile it became a little hilarious, to be honest, seeing all those Mets chase after each other on the base paths. Remember that old Bugs Bunny baseball cartoon, the one they show at stadiums a lot during rain delays, all those base runners lined up cheek to jowl?
Well, for the second time in six days, that was the Mets.
And the amazing thing was, they were scoring all those runs on behalf of Jacob deGrom. This game ended Mets 18, Blue Jays 1. Sunday’s game ended Mets 14, Phillies 1. If it seemed like bizarre world to you, watching the Mets outscore teams 32-2 for deGrom, you can only imagine what old No. 48 himself thought?
And even after he was done talking about it you could really only imagine it. He has never complained when his offense was stuck in the desert. He wasn’t going to start chirping now.
“The guys did a good job of going out there and putting up runs for me,” he said. “It was a little cold out there and I was trying to stay loose, but I was happy for the support.”
Roger that, Jake … still, wasn’t it a little weird?
“It feels good,” he said. “Run support is always a plus.”
OK but …
“I try to treat everything like a 0-0 game,” he said. “I try to go out there and get them back in the dugout as quick as possible.”
The thin smile on his face was the only thing that betrayed his just-another-day-at-the-office routine, that indicated this has all been a fun change of pace for the man who, lowered his ERA to 1.67 after six innings and three hits and one earned run and nine strikeouts.
How crazy have these past two games been? Well, look at it this way: you could really play this particular parlor game for any number of stretches over the past two years but let’s take two in particular, keeping in mind that the Mets have now scored 32 runs in his previous two starts.
From April 10 through June 13, 2018, a period of 64 days, the Mets scored 33 runs, total, in 12 consecutive deGrom starts. In those games he pitched to a 1.55 ERA and a 1.006 WHIP. And the Mets went 3-9 — 3-9! — in those 12 games; de Grom’s record was 2-2.
From June 23 through Aug. 29, 2019, a period of 67 days the Mets scored 32 runs, total, in 12 consecutive deGrom starts. In those games he pitched to a 1.96 ERA and a 0.995 WHIP. And the Mets went 5-7 — 5-7! — in those 12 games; deGrom’s record was 4-2.
You knew that, though, because that has become the narrative around too many deGrom starts the past few years. Just not the last two. And the Mets, still on the outside looking in at the playoffs with just over two weeks left of baseball, are starting to score runs in droves. Many nights they need to. When deGrom is on the mound, it is merely a smart, useful luxury.
“It felt good to see Jake with the kind of support he deserves,” Mets manager Luis Rojas said.
It was a winning day all around for the Mets. DeGrom wore an NYPD cap, one of five first-responder lids the team wore (alongside FDNY, Port Authority, EMT and Sanitation), the end result of a year-long — and, truthfully, an 18-year-long — quest to get MLB to come off its stubborn refusal to allow them and the Yankees to properly commemorate Sept. 11.
Joe Torre, who really ought to know better, explained the sport’s position thusly last year: “We try to keep the hats the way they are because every team could really have a legitimate reason to want to wear a different hat to honor something that happened in their particular area. And we just try to keep it consistent with the uniform.”
You know what? If the Braves want to wear special caps every April 4 to commemorate the death of Martin Luther King, they should be allowed. If the Phillies want to wear a special uniform with the Declaration of Independence on the back every July 4, they should be allowed. If the Rockies want to wear special uniforms every April 20 to honor the memories of the victims of the Columbine High School shooting, they should be allowed.
Still, a win is a win, no matter how you get it. New York baseball won four times Friday – twice in The Bronx, once in Buffalo, and once with the caps they wore on their heads and the sentiments they carried in their hearts. A good day all the way around.
