Mets fans finally get chance to roar in dream afternoon

It’s one thing to be loud. And it was loud Tuesday afternoon at Citi Field, 44,093 of the truest of the true believers jammed into every nook and squeezed into every cranny. It felt like half the city called it a day after lunch and sprinted to the block party in the parking lot, something of a welcome-home happy hour after 16 days on the road. 

They were well-fueled. They were well-oiled. The Phillies heard them, you bet. 

More important, so did the Mets, who seemed to feed off the energy, who played 2 hours and 55 minutes of the crispest, sharpest baseball you could order up in drubbing the Phillies, 7-2, taking a 2-1 lead in this best-of-five National League Division Series, nudging themselves to within one step of an opportunity to play for the pennant. 

“What a privilege, what an honor, to have that support from the fan base,” said Mets manager Carlos Mendoza. “Today was a perfect example of what’s possible when everyone’s in it together. Amazing. Fantastic. Let’s do it again [Wednesday].” 

If they do that, they can avoid a return trip to Philadelphia and simply get ready to get back on the road again, off to California for the weekend, either to Los Angeles or San Diego. If Jose Quintana can replicate Sean Manaea, if Pete Alonso can stay hot, if the lineup can continue to churn … 

“This,” Jesse Winker said, “is what you dream of as a kid.” 

Winker was one of the Mets who helped jump-start the crowd, which nearly reached full delirium when Florida Gator Pete Alonso took LSU Tiger Aaron Nola deep the other way in the second, winning the SEC battle and breaking the ice and nearly shattering the sound barrier. Alonso, for all his struggles, is one the Citi faithful have grown used to relying on. 

Winker is another matter. You want a visceral player? Winker is a visceral player. For years he and the Citi Field crowd engaged in a back-and-forth that ranged somewhere between playful and provoking, with Winker thrilling in the role of provocateur. But even then, you could sense this from Mets fans: 

“He may be an a—hat, but I sure wish he was OUR a—hat.” 

“I feel like I talk about this a lot,” Winker said, half-smiling, but not at all joking. 

But that’s part of the fan experience too, right? Rangers fans still speak with reverence about Sean Avery, a forward who played in 264 games for them and scored all of 78 goals but was beloved because he annoyed the hell out of 98 percent of the NHL. Winker is Avery without the ice skates. Now that he’s a Met, Mets fans can’t get enough of him. 

“I’ve always wondered what it would be like,” Winker said, after hitting a solo bomb in the fourth halfway up the Coca-Cola porch that doubled the Mets’ lead to 2-0. “New York is a huge market. The team has been so welcoming and the fans are so passionate here. It’s like a dream come true.” 

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And for those fans, it was truly a dream afternoon. There was splendid defense — Mark Vientos robbing Alec Bohm of one hit, then Bohm getting tossed out at second when Tyrone Taylor fielded his shot off the wall and fired a strike to Francisco Lindor. There were clutch hits abounding: Starling Marte, Jose Iglesias, Lindor. 

All of that feeding the starving masses in the stands, most of them getting thirsty for the hour-long block party back in the parking lot after the game. 

“Taking the lead early helps,” Lindor said. “You get on the board and you just play with more confidence and you can feel that all coming from the stands, too.” 

Killer pitching helps, too. And Manaea was next-level terrific. When he walked to the mound at a little after 5 o’clock Tuesday, he carried a career playoff ERA of 10.66. The last time he’d appeared in the postseason, two years ago as a Padre, he’d been bludgeoned by these very same Phillies for four hits and five runs in an inning and a third. 

This time? Seven-plus innings, 91 pitches, three hits, one run. And in the sixth, after he walked Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner to lead off with the game still a 2-0 gut-cruncher, he promptly struck out Bryce Harper. Mendoza, playing a hunch, left him in to face Nick Castellanos, Sunday’s hero, and Castellanos lined out to Iglesias who flipped to Lindor to double up Schwarber. 

And Manaea threw a wicked and joyful punch, his fist treating the air like Foreman treated Frazier’s chin. That was that. And that caused one last waterfall of thunder to cascade out of the grandstand. 

“My first roar of the year,” Manaea said with a grin. 

And just one of many for the Mets, and for the fans, on a note-perfect autumn day. If they have another one of those in them, they’ll get to take this story west, and let it last for a few days.

“We need another day just like this,” Alonso said. 

The fans sure seem up for that. Now it’s on the Mets to throw the final punch.