The surprisingly important New York Mets, plus a sad baseball card story (2024)

By Levi Weaver and Ken Rosenthal

Aug 30, 2024

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There’s optimism in Mets Land. Also: Ken’s Q&A with Francisco Lindor, the Royals’ disastrous play and the Baseball Card of the Week! I’mLevi Weaver, here withKen Rosenthal— welcome to The Windup!

Trending up? Mets involved in all sorts of big stakes

Yes, this newsletter comes fromThe Athletic, which is part of TheNew YorkTimes Company. But that’s not why the Mets keep cropping up so regularly here. It’s mostly that they’re endlessly fascinating — sometimes for the right reasons, other times for being, well,the Mets!

Today, it’s the good kind. Yesterday’s3-2 win over the Diamondbacks— featuring a ninth-inning glove-skimming single by Jose Iglesias to drive in the go-ahead run — secureda series win against one of the teams ahead of New York in the NL wild-card standings.The Mets (70-64)currently trailthe medical-miracle Braves by three games for the third and final wild-card spot.

It’s not all glowing optimism, of course. The already-shaky bullpen took another hit this week when Dedniel Núñez was added to the IL with “persistent forearm tightness” (though they hope he’ll return in early September).

And on the periphery is another looming bit of potential good — or not good, depending on who you ask — news. The White Sox lost again yesterday, and are 31-104. How does this impact the Mets?

Because in 1962 — the Mets’ inaugural year — they went 40-120-1. It’s the most losses by any team in the modern era.Maybe you’ve heard about it (a lot, lately). Tim Brittonspoke to members of that 1962 team (and others) and found a surprising sentiment: Some of them don’t want the White Sox to break the record!

As the thinking goes, the Mets were lovable losers, finding ways to stay entertaining while setting new records for futility. The White Sox are just … so, so bad. Why shouldthey get the record?

Ken’s Notebook: Checking in with Francisco Lindor

Excerptswith the Mets shortstop:

How would you describe the Mets’ season?
It has been … bumpy. It’s one of those years where coming in, you know you have something special. Obviously, we’ve all got to build to get to the place we want to get to. It didn’t click right away. Then we started clicking. Then we started playing better.

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I would summarize it as an extremely baseball-like year. Where it’s like this (Lindor moves his hand up and down). And you try to minimize the downs. You try to keep the highs as long as you can.

You’ve played every game. How are you physically compared to other years?
Last year I had bone spurs. This year I don’t. The year before I had a broken finger. This year I don’t. So compared to other years, I’m OK. You have sprains here and there. But it’s not like bone spurs or a broken finger.

How important is it for you to play 162? Is that a big deal to you?
Yes. Ah, let me rephrase it. Posting up every day is important to me. Being available every day is important to me. Is it a dream of mine, or a goal, to play 162? If I play it, that means I was ready to play every single day and was available to play every single day. And God gave me the blessing to be available and ready to play every single day.

Going back to April and early May. You’ve always been so positive. That was a challenging time for the club.
Very.

How difficult was it for you to stay positive then?
On a scale of one to 10, 10 being difficult to stay positive, I’ll say like a three. I believe in what we have. I believe (president of baseball operations David) Stearns put a good team together. It was just a matter of us playing better, including myself.

(Kodai) Senga was hurt. J.D. (Martinez) wasn’t there yet. All of a sudden, we started to get to a place where, ‘OK, guys are coming back. We’re going to start playing the game a little bit better.’ You have to stay as optimistic as you can in this game.

When I say three, three to me is not a concerning number. It was one of those where, “Yeah, this is tough.” You start looking around. You look at your watch. And it’s, “Oh, damn, we’ve got to start picking it up here.”

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Disasters: Oh no, watch this play

The Royals led the Astros 3-2 in the bottom of the eighth inning last night. With a win, they’d be a half-game behind the Guardians in the AL Central. Houston had runners on first and second with one out, and Yainer Diaz hit a comebacker up the middle that looked like a potential inning-ending double play.

Moments later, reliever Lucas Erceg and first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino were both out of the game.Here, watch it yourself:

Lucas Erceg and Vinnie Pasquantino both left the game with apparent injuries after this game-tying play in Houston
(via @BallySportsKC)pic.twitter.com/Di1779zNoe
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) August 30, 2024

In case the GIF is moving too fast — becausewow did this unfold quickly — Erceg tried to barehand the 93.6 mph comebacker. That makes pitching very tricky.

Likewise, it’s nearly impossible to play first base with an injured wrist. As Pasquantino reached out to catch the throw from Erceg, his wrist took the brunt of a full-speed adult body, and it folded inward.

If the play caused confusion, the aftermath wasn’t much less chaotic. The Royals trainer had to decide which player to attend to first — a decision made slightly easier when Pasquantino removed himself from the ballgame.

Houston went on to win 6-3 to open the four-game series. After the game, Royals manager Matt Quatraro declined to give a diagnosis on either player, saying they were still being examined.

Both Erceg and Pasquantino have played big roles in Kansas City’s recent surge. Additionally, this happened on the same day that Michael Lorenzen hit the 15-day IL with a Grade 2 hamstring strain, and three days after left-handed reliever Will Smith did so with a lower back issue.

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The Royals were one win away from sweeping the Guardians earlier this week to take a one-game lead in the AL Central. With the loss, they’re now 1 1/2 games back (though they still hold the second wild-card position in the AL). They’re on the cusp of doing something special. It would be a shame if a spate of late-season injuries derailed it.

Baseball Card of the Week: 1977 Topps Rookies, sorta featuring Gil Patterson

I usually take my own photos for this section, but I don’t have this card (I checked!). So I’m going a little outside the box this week. This photo was taken by Tyler Kepner forhis Sliders column today, which talks a lot about Gil Patterson.

Why? Because that photo up there …well, that’s not Gil Patterson.That’s contemporaneous minor-leaguer Sheldon Gill.From there, it’s a fairly sad story. Patterson was one of the Yankees’ top prospects at the time. As Kepner’s story reports, the Yankees once refused to trade him straight-up for Tony Perez. But injuries derailed the pitcher’s career, and he never got another baseball card.

He’d like to have, you know, at leastonecard with his real face on it, so he’s been on a slight mission to have Topps include him. Perhaps a bit tricky, since he’s a minor-league pitching coordinator. Butif we can get an egg — that’s it, that’s the whole bit,an egg— on a baseball card, surely Patterson can get his real face on a card someday.

Handshakes and High Fives

Eloy Jiménez has a fresh start in Baltimore.How’s it goingfor him?

With a last name like “MacPhail,” you wouldn’t think this family boasts two Hall of Famers, three World Series and four generations of baseball success. But that’s the tally. Dan Hayes spoke to Drew — the great-grandson of Larry — abouthis role with the Twins.

Rhett Lowder isset to debut tonightagainst the Brewers. C. Trent Rosecrans spoke to someone who knows what fans should expect: veteran catcher Tucker Barnhart.

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Speaking of debuts, the Angels arecalling up pitching prospectsCaden Dana and Sam Aldegheri.

The Phillies will not be eating Taijuan Walker’s contract, but they havemoved him to the bullpen. Meanwhile, Katie Woo called it: The Cardinals haveplaced Tommy Pham on waivers.

Also, the Phillies opened a big four-game series against the Braveswith a huge win.

Most-clicked in yesterday’s newsletter: Ken’sfeature on Brewers rookie Tobias Myersand his unlikely rise to ace status.

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(Top photo: Matt Kartozian / USA Today)