A partial score: Sandy Alderson 1, Residents of Panic City 0.
Two days after the general manager went about modestly reshaping the Mets by promoting Michael Conforto and obtaining Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson in a deal with the Braves, his team sure looks more capable of hanging in the division and wild-card races than it did prior to that.
No, the Mets haven’t acquired the marquee bat, and chances are they won’t, but they do have a few more professional bats at Terry Collins’ disposal, giving the manager more options as he and the team go about their business.
“Having that versatility is enormous,” Collins said after Uribe’s 10th-inning hit off the wall brought home Curtis Granderson from second base for Sunday’s 3-2 victory over the Dodgers. “It lets you keep quality players on the field.”
No more a laughingstock, the lineup and bench have each gotten longer and tougher since Friday. There are still pockmarks to camouflage — the bullpen has suddenly blown all three save opportunities since the All-Star break, with Jeurys Familia touched for a pair of ninth-inning runs in this one to scuttle Jacob deGrom’s very fine afternoon; fundamentals come and go, witness Ruben?Tejada’s inability to get a bunt down after Granderson’s leadoff double in the 10th — but the Mets’ second straight victory brought them within two games of division-leading Washington.
“A couple out, a lot of games left inside the division,” said Granderson, who busted out of the box in the 10th to take second on Andre Ethier’s arm in right field after L.A. manager Don Mattingly double-switched strong-armed Yasiel Puig out of the game an inning earlier. “Obviously it could be a lot better, but it definitely could be a lot worse.
“I’m OK with where we are.”
The hyped deGrom-Zack Greinke pitching matchup was worthy of its billing, the two right-handers dealing throughout. The Mets ended Greinke’s scoreless streak at 45 2/3 innings — the fourth longest of the expansion era and longest since Orel Hershiser’s record 59 straight in 1988 — when Kirk Nieuwehuis scored on deGrom’s infield chop in the third.
Nieuwenhuis had reached as a hit batsman. The Mets got their second run when Daniel Murphy was forced in when Conforto was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and two out in the sixth. (Greinke had hit three batters in 131 1/3 innings coming into the game.)
Hit batsmen rather than hits. Sounds like the 2015 Mets, doesn’t it?
But that was a description better applied before Friday, before Alderson changed some pieces. Again, not the dramatic move of the Donn Clendenon-Keith Hernandez-Gary Carter ilk, but certainly much better than nothing.
The moves not only brought some depth and some energy into the equation, but introduced some competition for playing time and at-bats. That is never a bad thing. It wasn’t a bad thing, either, that Conforto got four hits in Saturday’s 15-2 victory, Johnson homered in that one and Uribe came through with the walk-off on Sunday.
“It’s enormous,” Collins said of the trio’s fast breakouts as Mets. “Juan and Kelly have been there before, a young guy brings energy and excitement that’s needed.”
Uribe, 36, is on his sixth team and third this season, having started the year in L.A. before going to Atlanta at the end of May. He has been a part of two World Series winners (the White Sox in 2005, the Giants in 2010) and five playoff teams.
“This moment, it’s like when you’re playing in the playoffs or the World Series and you win it,” Uribe said of his game-winning blow that came on an 0-2 pitch from closer Kenley Jansen. “I like the way it went today.
“I just feel happy that I helped my team.”
Uribe came off the bench in the eighth, pinch-hitting for lefty-swinging Johnson against the lefty J.P. Howell. He struck out but remained in the game. He got his chance to be a hero when the Dodgers intentionally walked Daniel Murphy in front of him.
“No, I don’t get mad [at the strategy],” Uribe said. “I just want to make contact.”
Uribe is known throughout the industry as a good teammate; a good clubhouse guy. A team can never have enough of that kind, but that’s not enough, either. Good clubhouse guys become better teammates when they come through, as Uribe did Sunday.
“Every day I am the same guy, and try to help my teammates,” Uribe said. “I don’t say I have to play every day, [I’m there] whether they need me to pinch hit or [go in] for defense.
“This is my team. This is a good team,” he said. “In baseball, you never know.”
Sandy knows.