When Franciso Lindor likes to say he is “riding a good wave,” when things are going well for him at the plate. On Saturday night in San Diego, the surf continued to provide the Mets’ shortstop with an excellent break as he snapped home runs from both sides of the plate – including a grand slam – and drove in five in New York’s 7-1 win.
“We’re witnessing greatness here,” manager Carlos Mendoza said about the shortstop.
“Unbelievable night against another good pitcher,” the skipper continued, referencing Padres starter Michael King. “For him to get that huge hit with the bases loaded to pretty much break the game three. And then from the right side against another tough arm [left-handed reliever Yuki Matsui] that they have, pretty impressive.”
For Lindor, the performance at the plate was good, but the result to keep the Mets in the NL wild-card race was better
“It feels amazing because I’m contributing to a team win,” he told SNY’s Steve Gelbs. “Ultimately it comes down to getting a good pitch and driving it.”
Lindor added later: “I gotta continue to move forward and continue to climb the mountain. We still got a month and a few more days, understand where we are, embrace it, learn from it, and the bigger goal here is to be in the postseason.
“That’s extremely in front of me. I just continue to believe in God, believe in our team and keep climbing the mountain.”
Serenaded by traveling Mets fans with MVP chants all night, Lindor “needs to be in the conversation” for the National League award, Mendoza said.
“He’s right there with anybody in the league,” the skipper said. “I know there’s some other guys that are having a really good year, but he’s right there with them.”
Mendoza added that Lindor is “one of the best players in the game,” and yet is still overlooked.
“I think a lot of times people take for granted how good of a player [he is] and what he’s able to do day in and day out, not easy,” he said. “And not only offensively, but the way he plays a premium position, shortstop, and the way he plays the position. What he means to the team, to that locker room, and to that organization.”
Why does Mendoza think he is taken for granted around the league?
“I don’t know… because we definitely don’t,” the manager siad. “We appreciate what he does for this team, for the organization and how bad he wants to win. We all want to win, but this guy, he’s unbelievable.
“Just for me, what an honor it’s to be able to write his name in the lineup day in and day out. I know what I’m going to get from him and that’s a really good feeling.”
Perhaps the production switch had a bit to do with where Mendoza wrote the shortstop’s name in the lineup, as in Lindor’s first 44 games of the season, he had just seven home runs and 21 RBI while batting .195 with a .630 OPS.
In the 86 games since – coinciding with his move to the leadoff spot – he has 20 home runs and 57 RBI and is batting .305 with a .928 OPS.
Mendoza said he sees Lindor “having fun” and enjoying the game while being “engaged” and pushing his teammates
“The results are obviously the results, but I think the preparation, the way he goes about his business, I think ultimately it comes down to how much he’s enjoying, where we at and how the team is playing overall.”
His level of locked-in came through when he homered from the right side of the plate in the seventh.
“It feels pretty cool to hit home runs from each side, it’s one of those where as you’re running the bases you’re like ‘wow, my swing is good, I’m aligning pretty good,’” Lindor said with a broad smile. “Understand that today was a good day, embrace it, come back tomorrow and do the best I can.”
But Lindor, always a team-first player, also made sure to credit Starling Marte, Francisco Alvarez and Jeff McNeil who all got on base with two outs in the fourth to give him the chance to deliver the big hit.
“My grand slam doesn’t come up if Jeff doesn’t have a quality at-bat and the guys in front of him doesn’t have quality at-bats,” the shortstop said. “Kudos to them, they made my situation happen. At the end of the day, I was the guy who got a good pitch to hit and the ball went out of the field.”
In that same vein, when asked about the MVP chants on the road, Lindor said it is “always special whenever you hear something like that” from visiting fans.
“I appreciate it. I appreciate that everyone came out and support the team,” he said.
