PHILADELPHIA — Earlier this week, as he pondered a prolonged slump that has sapped even his relentlessly positive attitude, Brandon Nimmo summarized it simply.
“It’s my turn to adjust,” he said, “and my turn to get better.”
On Friday night, in the opener of as consequential a series as the Mets and Phillies have ever played, Nimmo adjusted, Nimmo got better, and the Mets boat-raced first-place Philadelphia, 11-3.
This was a thorough dismantling with the Mets looking sharper in every phase. They cashed in every offensive opportunity while giving the Phillies none of their own. In a game where the Mets lacked the starting pitching advantage going in, they looked comprehensively better — which is the recipe they could use over the next 15 games and beyond.
Nimmo’s fifth-inning three-run homer was the second of three three-run blasts New York hit on the night, between shots by Francisco Alvarez and Harrison Bader. Before Wednesday, the Mets had hit four three-run homers in the second half of the season. It’s the fourth time in their history the Mets hit a trio of three-run homers in the same game, joining contests in 1989, 2006 and 2015. (That’s not a bad group of years to join.)
Feel like we just posted a three-run homer? pic.twitter.com/Z6kOLzVl51
— New York Mets (@Mets) September 14, 2024
Each blast came from a player slumping in the second half. Alvarez’s three-run shot was his second in as many games, and Carlos Mendoza has started the catcher in eight of the last nine games because he thought this kind of breakout was imminent. Bader owned a .509 OPS in the second half that had cost him his everyday playing time in center.
But maybe the biggest impact for the Mets is Nimmo going deep. An All-Star snub in the first half, his second-half OPS was .551 entering Friday, his slump since the All-Star break persisting well beyond anyone’s expectations.
“It’s been really tough to try and stay positive through it,” he said earlier this week in Toronto. “The margins are actually pretty small when you go and look at it, but it feels like the Grand Canyon. You feel like you’re on one side trying to get to the other.”
Nimmo had come close a couple of times last homestand, and his three-run shot in the fifth took full advantage of Citizens Bank Park’s cozy dimensions. (According to Statcast, it would have been a homer in only four other major-league parks.)
“A lot of the work I’m putting in is moving in the right direction,” Nimmo said, while reticent to say he’s over the hump.
What’s further encouraging is how Nimmo homered: off a 3-2 curveball from Aaron Nola. Because to Nimmo, a lot of what’s driven his slump is the way he’s been pitched.
“There was a good long stretch probably from middle of August last year until middle of July this year where I was a pretty dangerous hitter,” Nimmo said. “I think the league maybe considered it’s not a fluke anymore.”
Nimmo said he’s seen pitchers operate with more care against him. The challenge fastballs in hitters’ counts come less frequently, with pitchers more open to missing off the plate and issuing a free pass.
The data backs this up. Nimmo is seeing fewer fastballs, in general, in the second half and fewer fastballs when he’s ahead in the count.
Entering Friday, Nola had thrown Nimmo 17 full-count pitches in their career encounters — three of them curveballs. On Friday night alone, he threw Nimmo five full-count pitches — three of them curveballs. That included the last one, hit just far enough in right field to clear the fence.
The offensive effort backed another gem from Jose Quintana, whose season has pivoted yet again. The lefty tossed seven scoreless innings; he walked no one and two of the three hits against him stayed on the infield. Over his last four starts, Quintana has allowed one earned run in 25 innings. It’s reminiscent of the stretch he had in the final month of the first half.
“I’m really happy with how my stuff is working these last few starts,” Quintana said.
“We’re playing well,” Mendoza said. “There’s a lot of things we’re doing well, and it starts with starting pitching.”
Earlier this week, Nimmo lamented not being part of that group contributing.
“It’s beautiful that the guys are doing what they’re doing and we’re in this position. That makes everything better,” he said. “But there is a self-expectation that man, if I could just catch fire here, then I could help us to go for a while. You definitely want that, but in order to get there, you can’t skip steps. You’ve got to build on things and take it one step at a time.”
For Nimmo and the Mets, Friday was a big step.
“It’s a fun game — maddening at times and very frustrating,” he said. “But when you’re able to overcome it, it makes it that much sweeter.”
(Photo: Tim Nwachukwu / Getty Images)
