WASHINGTON — The primary time J.D. Martinez heard “OMG,” the Jose Iglesias earworm that has change into a summer season anthem for the Mets, he urged Iglesias to play it for the remainder of the clubhouse. The remaining has change into the stuff of contemporary Mets legend. Iglesias’ teammates took to the track, blaring it after wins. Mets advertising sorts received on board as properly, making “OMG” an everyday characteristic following residence runs at Citi Subject. All of it culminated in a postgame live performance final Friday at Citi Subject.
Whereas Martinez, for apparent causes, hasn’t acquired the identical publicity as Iglesias, his position in serving to promote the track is telling. Since arriving in New York on the finish of April, Martinez has performed a lot for different gamers within the clubhouse — for Iglesias, for Pete Alonso, for Brandon Nimmo and others — that his private contributions can typically fade to the background.
Simply not on Monday. Along with his crew prone to struggling a tough loss at Nationals Park, Martinez hit a go-ahead three-run homer to key a six-run Tenth inning in a 9-7 win over the Nats.
“And truthfully, I assumed he was a bit off at present,” supervisor Carlos Mendoza mentioned. “That tells you all it’s good to know the way good of a hitter [he is].”
Caught in an 0-for-12 funk as he approached the plate within the Tenth, Martinez clubbed a Hunter Harvey pitch a projected 420 toes onto the batter’s eye in straightaway heart discipline. The Mets later tacked on key runs due to Francisco Alvarez, who hit an RBI triple, and Iglesias, who homered to just about the identical spot as Martinez.
Regardless of his latest struggles, Martinez continues to be batting .278/.360/.493 with 10 residence runs in 56 video games. And but it’s doable that his best contributions have come within the batting cage and the clubhouse, the place he’s helped a number of of his teammates thrive. A number of Mets have referred to Martinez as a 3rd hitting coach, given his experience in that space.
Whereas Martinez might not be capable to add “voice coach” to his resume as properly, he’s no less than a good hype man. Requested if he would possibly ship his personal postgame live performance at Citi Subject sometime, Martinez laughed.
“Oh, no, we’re not doing any extra of these,” he mentioned. “We helped [Iglesias] out. We gave him every little thing he wanted. It’s on him now.”
In contrast to many at Nationals Park, Alvarez didn’t know instantly that his Tenth-inning liner would keep within the yard. That’s why he sprinted out of the batter’s field, hoping for further bases.
It wound up being his first profession triple, which Mendoza cited as proof of the 22-year-old catcher’s work ethic. Upon sliding headfirst into third base, Alvarez seemed up on the visiting dugout, his helmet partially obscuring his face — however not sufficient to cover his extensive grin.
“I loved that triple loads,” he mentioned, laughing.
Alvarez additionally had a two-run double within the sixth and completed with three RBIs. Regardless of rating in simply the 18th percentile of Statcast’s dash velocity metric, Alvarez has three stolen bases to go together with his triple in 161 profession video games.
“That’s who he’s, man,” Mendoza mentioned. “This can be a child that’s all the time taking part in actually arduous with a variety of vitality, and also you noticed the feelings there when he received to 3rd base.”
The much less uplifting a part of New York’s win got here on the very finish. After the Mets scored six occasions within the high of the Tenth, relievers Tyler Jay and Reed Garrett allowed 4 of their very own within the backside of the inning, placing the tying runs on base earlier than Garrett lastly struck out Luis García Jr. to finish issues.
Since June 24, when Edwin Díaz was suspended for a sticky stuff violation, Mets relievers have produced a 7.20 ERA, with Garrett, Dedniel Núñez, Matt Festa and Danny Younger amongst these requested to contribute in unfamiliar, high-leverage roles. On Monday, Garrett warmed up twice earlier than coming into, as Mendoza tried to straddle the road between resting considered one of his high out there relievers and making certain the victory.
“We’ve been operating this man fairly arduous,” Mendoza mentioned.
How lengthy can this proceed? A number of business sources mentioned on Monday that the Mets have been in touch with rival golf equipment about buying aid pitching, maybe with an eye fixed towards leaping the market a month earlier than the Commerce Deadline. However no deal has occurred, and no ensures exist that one will.
Díaz is due again on Friday, however others, similar to injured relievers Brooks Raley and Drew Smith, received’t return this season. It’s created a difficult puzzle for Mendoza to piece collectively.
