NEW YORK — And in the middle of it all was Francisco Lindor, once again making the improbable feel inevitable.
“Everyone in the building,” president of baseball operations David Stearns said, “knew what was going to happen there.”
He paused.
“And to do it, is just absurd.”
The game finds you, and the game-defining moments can’t help but find the New York Mets’ shortstop and most valuable player. Lindor’s sixth-inning grand slam lifted the Mets to a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies at Citi Field, propelling New York into the National League Championship Series. The Mets will play Sunday night in southern California against either the Los Angeles Dodgers or San Diego Padres.
“I love them for them believing in me,” Lindor said. “Any one of us could have done it, it just worked out it was me today.”
Yes, you should be rolling your eyes. It has “worked out” to be Lindor in this last month so often as to beggar belief. It was Lindor in the leadoff spot to turn around a season. It was Lindor in Toronto who sparked the Mets’ penchant for late-inning rallies. It was Lindor in Atlanta who catapulted them into the playoffs. It was Lindor leading off for Pete Alonso in Milwaukee. There are nine spots in the lineup but all of them lead to Lindor.
“Who else?” manager Carlos Mendoza said.
“Right man, right spot, right time,” said Alonso.
Until that point, the Mets offense had been frustratingly stymied. They’d left the bases loaded in each of the first two innings and two more on in the fifth. The bases were loaded again with one out in the sixth when Philadelphia turned to its closer in Carlos Estévez. As the lights dimmed at Citi Field, a race ensued in the Mets’ bullpen, where relievers toss down their hat to predict a home run. Drew Smith got his down first, just like he had in Milwaukee last Thursday, when Alonso stepped to the plate.
“I just feel it in the moment, and it happens,” he said. “When Estévez came in the game, I knew he’d attack him with four-seamers and eventually he’s going to get to it. And he did.”
Estévez’s 2-1 fastball was 99 mph on the outer half. It landed in the Philadelphia bullpen — indeed, it had been target practice all series for New York — at 7:37 p.m, transforming the stands at Citi Field into a blue-and-orange squall. It was the loudest 7:37 jet to ever fly in Flushing.
“As soon as the ball left his bat, I was like, ‘Game over,’” said Alonso. “My hands were in the air just in awe. Just an unbelievable swing. The swing of a lifetime.”
It’s a swing that will hang on basement walls throughout the tri-state area, that will get a mural in the corridors and a plaque along the pavement of Citi Field. But so much leads to that swing. There were the smaller events preceding it in that inning Wednesday night: the leadoff single from J.D. Martinez and the seven-pitch walk for Tyrone Taylor. There are all those other swings this season. And there are the moments you don’t see, the routine he goes through each day to prepare, altered by his recent back injury, or the offseason work to grind his way to where he is now.
“He structures his entire life to do what he did tonight,” Stearns said. “It’s how disciplined he is in everything he does to get to that point where, in the biggest moment of his life, he can put a tremendous swing on a 100 mph fastball and send us to the NLCS.”
The swing of a lifetime, indeed.
Lindor rounded the bases stoically, as he had in Atlanta 10 days ago. But when Edwin Díaz struck out the tying run in Kyle Schwarber to close out the series, the celebration erupted less at the pitcher’s mound than at shortstop — Lindor in the middle of it all again.
Minutes later, his face would again be dripping with Korbel and Budweiser, the Mets’ first-ever champagne celebration in Citi Field’s home clubhouse louder and less contained than their two earlier auditions. This stadium has been here for 16 seasons. The dimensions have changed, the walls painted, the clubhouse redecorated more than once. This was the first time those lockers were covered by plastic, the first time that rug was soaked right through with alcohol.
“To be able to do it in front of the fan base for the first time here at Citi Field, it’s a dream come true,” said Brandon Nimmo, who was crying on the field after the last out. “It’s everything I ever wanted when I got drafted here.”
“Every single fan should enjoy this moment,” Mendoza said. “They’ve been through a lot. They need to enjoy it, embrace it and continue to believe.”
Mendoza has grown fond of reminding his team what is yet to be done. “We haven’t done anything,” he likes to say. This was just another step toward that ultimate goal of winning the last game.
But restoring belief? To make the improbable feel this inevitable? That sure as hell is something.
“I want to slay the negative perceptions,” team owner Steve Cohen said. “We’re on our way to doing that.”
“We’ve come so far, the preparation, the execution, the tenacity,” Alonso said. He smiled.
“Why not believe?”
(Photo: Rob Tringali / MLB Photos via Getty Images)
