Thank you Brandon Nimmo. That game was just pure fun. The New York Mets pummeled the Chicago Cubs 10 – 2 on Friday night in a game that had three rain delays. It was fun for many reasons. First, because the Mets hit five homeruns off of Chicago’s Jason Hammel. Second, because their bats exploded with 12 hits. But mostly because of Brandon Nimmo.
The rookie only came up to the big leagues a week ago – and Michael Conforto went back down – but last night was a night that Nimmo will remember forever. He smashed his first big league home run that brought in three runs. Did you see that excitement in his face? Did you see that smile he had when he ran around the bases so quickly? It’s the same excitement that a little boy has when he steps up to the plate in little league and hits his first base hit or home run. It’s contagious. So contagious that the Mets fans cheered so long and so hard for Nimmo that he got a well-deserved curtain call.
Prior to this game, Nimmo was 5-for-his-last-16 (.313) after going 0-4 in his major league debut on June 26 at Atlanta. He had his first major league RBI the night before and scored the go-ahead run. Nimmo is the 16th major leaguer born in Wyoming to appear in the majors.
This victory against the Cubs was a game that hopefully took the stress off the Mets players for just a little while and hopefully they continue the momentum today even though the game ran until around midnight. It’s the second game in the series that the Mets have won against Chicago. Just like I wrote about the other day, the Mets needed something to change their attitudes and their mentality and hopefully give a kick to their performance on the field. It might sound simple, but hopefully Brandon Nimmo might have been exactly what the doctor ordered.
Nimmo was quoted as saying, “I was floating around the bases there — I didn’t know what I was doing. All I knew is I saw the ball go (over the fence) when I was just before second base. That was just an ecstatic feeling.”
Not only did he deliver at the plate, but he then went on the field and made a spectacular diving catch and, again, ran back to the dugout with that same smile. Contagious.
Nobody has blinders on. The Mets still have a lot of work to do, but it’s nice to get an injection of positivity. It’s nice to see a different energy in the dugout and feel it from home watching the game. After all, the Mets won two games against the team that is currently the best in MLB. It doesn’t speak volumes yet, but it does give the Mets the right to whisper a little louder than they have been.
This win was also Jacob de Grom’s first win in more than two months – April 30th to be exact. In an interview he said, “I was starting to get worried that I wasn’t going to be able to go back out there,” deGrom said about the delay. “And I really wanted to, because I felt good warming up and then the first couple innings.”
It was also the game where Asdrúbal Cabrera hit two homeruns.
In tonight’s game, Bartolo Colon will take the mound and try for a third win in the series. He has only faced the Cubs once since joining the Mets, blanking them over seven innings of a game last July. But watch out for new Cubs hitters Ben Zobrist and Jason Heyward, who are a combined 15-for-31 off Colon with five home runs. He will face Cubs’ right-handed pitcher Jake Arrieta, who has struggled this year. He has given up a season-high five runs and five walks over five innings. Arrieta still has a 2.10 ERA, but he’s walked 20 in his last 40 innings, and four of the five runs he allowed Monday reached on a walk.
