Quote: Unselfish Baseball
In last night’s win against the Nationals, the Mets scored four runs in the ninth inning to extend their lead from 5 to 3 to 9 to 3.
Yesterday, in my MetsBlog Minute, I expressed concern over how the team has been so ineffective and silent during the final few innings of the game, which could prove to be quite detrimental against top teams down the stretch.
So, I was glad to see tack-on runs last night.
Hopefully, this continues.
Jerry Manuel, on the team’s offense last night, and scoring late in the game, while speaking to reporters, said:
“It’s something we have not been doing…We did a lot of good things offensively tonight. We moved runners over. We got runners in. We played really unselfish baseball.”
Yes, unselfish baseball, much like Carlos Beltran used to say in the commercial from 2006, ‘Get ‘em on, get ‘em over, get ‘em in.’
Actually, this is the type of baseball I prefer to watch. I enjoy a big home run, but I mostly enjoy small ball, hit and runs, stolen bases, hitting the other way, selection at the plate, etc., and this is what the Mets have been doing of late.
What’s interesting, it seems as though much of it is coming from the bench, from Manuel, sending out signals to slow the game down and force certain hitters, who may be struggling, to take a different approach, and, most important, the hitter is obliging.
