Seriously, could it have ended any worse? Marcell OHzuna drove in his 40th run to give the Braves a 3-2 lead. Dylan Lee came in with a brilliant hold in the eighth, leading my son to ask if Snit might let him trot back out for the ninth.
Instead, A.J. Minter was handed the ball for the ninth for the second time in recent weeks. This had all the makings of one of those dreadful Lifetime Network movies. You know, the ones where the ending is so freaking predictable!
Things looked ok early. Minter quickly had Jeff McNeill with two strikes, throwing hard stuff by the annoying second baseman. McNeill has sucked in recent weeks, but he is crafty – I guess I give him that. Knowing how badly Minter falls off the mound to third base side, McNeill executed a perfect drag bunt and legged it out to reach first base.
With the leadoff runner on, Tomas Nido was sent to the plate to move McNeill into scoring position. Again, the Lifetime ending is imminent, especially when you know that Nido looks like Clark from the Benchwarmers with a bat in his hand, so let’s throw him a change to make the sacrifice easy. Could it have ended any worse?
The answer is an emphatic YES!
We can probably all agree that Pete Alonso is NY-doofus #1. McNeill is #3, which means NY-doofus #2 had to play a role in this one. Brandon Nimmo entered the game late and strode to the plate with McNeill in scoring position. Minter threw him six straight cutters, the last one the worst by far, and Nimmo didn’t miss it.
Could it have ended any worse? NO! Mets 4, Braves 3.
SILVER LININGS
The good news, friends, is Bryce Elder was pretty decent. OHzuna continued to do OHzuna things. And the Braves don’t play another Sunday night baseball game until **checks notes** next Sunday! Sigh…
Thankfully, the season isn’t over. The Braves are 24-13, and maybe Snit now knows the ninth is Minter’s kryptonite. Hey, maybe Snit might even break the old Lifetime movie ending next time out? At least one can hope.
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