In a wave of nostalgia, I watched Steve "Urinating Tree" Linkowski's video on
the 2021 Mets. (103 days in 1st place, finished under .500)
I had forgotten that Linkowski includes in the video
that lineup, the one from the game against the Marlins in May, which I now post to preserve for posterity:
Jonathan Villar, 3b
Francisco Lindor, ss
Cameron Maybin, lf
Dominic Smith, 1b
Tomas Nido, c
Wilfredo Tovar, 2b
Joneshwy Fargas, cf
Khalil Lee, rf
Joey Lucchesi, p
(Yes, in 2021, pitchers still hit. O lost!)
Recall that the Mets
win this game.
Recall that the Mets go 17-9 in May, their
best month of the season.
And yet, despite overcoming the injuries that necessitated this (I mean, apparently even Kevin Pillar wasn't available here). they went into such a nosedive that they weren't even in contention in September.
I can't blame it all on Javy Baez, but gods, what a nightmare that year was.
(I had actually seen Wilfredo Tovar play before the Mets called him up. In 2017, Wilfredo was playing for the Columbia Fireflies when I visited SC to see the solar eclipse. [It was great; they stopped the game in the 3rd innning and played "Eclipse" by Pink Floyd during the event. I loved it so much, it's why I moved to South Carolina, aside from being way too poor to try and buy a house in California.]
The Fireflies lost, of course. Who says the Mets don't train them in the minors?)