“Sanity often requires the disavowal of the senses.”
—“Transcription,” Ben Lerner
This was a blueprint week for the Mets.
Sunday was the capper, for sure — the best win of this regular season, maybe the best win since the end of the 2024 regular season. But it wasn’t the only impressive victory for the Mets in a 5-1 homestand against two teams that, while in a tough stretch right now, figure to be pretty good the rest of the way.
Within each win, there was something to tuck away for the future. Tuesday was A.J. Ewing’s electric debut and a spark for the offense. Wednesday saw Carson Benge rebound from a defensive mistake to come through with the winning hit — a model of how to shrug off a miscue and rebound for the entire team. Thursday felt like a turning-the-tide kind of day — a game in which the Mets faced an early deficit and capitalized on a, shall-we-say, curious umpiring decision to come all the way back for a win.
That positive momentum felt like it hit a wall Friday, not just with the loss but with the injury to Clay Holmes. Carlos Mendoza, when divulging that Holmes had fractured his fibula, said it almost with an air of resignation — another injury to add to the growing list. It was as quiet a postgame clubhouse as the Mets had experienced all season.
And yet, they bounced back again to win Saturday, then snatched victory at the last minute Sunday behind a bevy of unexpected contributions. Tyrone Taylor, enmeshed in a 4-for-33 slump when he came to the plate in the ninth, launched the game-tying three-run homer. Sean Manaea, after hearing boos early in his relief outing, kept the Yankees within reach over his last couple of frames. Ewing got down the first sacrifice bunt of his professional career. Benge delivered another walk-off.
In the process, the Mets showed the kind of resolve that had escaped them dating back to last season. The 91 consecutive losses when trailing after eight always struck me as a bit fluky. Look up the other teams that have pulled a long 0-fer like that, and you’ll find a few good ones. And a very similar Mets team excelled at those late-game comebacks in 2024.
At the same time, there’s an inertia to belief. Come back as often as the 2024 Mets did, and you get that rock rolling down the hill in a good way. Fail each time as the 2025 Mets did, and it’s hard to unmoor the rock.
And as much as the Mets have talked about the talent in the room, the current moment calls for resolve. For too much of that talent, the room they’re in houses the training staff. That lengthy IL table down below isn’t getting shorter anytime soon. And so contributions from the likes of Benge and Ewing are not icing on the cake, they are necessary. Big games from Taylor and better performances from Manaea are not luxuries, either.
“It was really good to see the guys fight back,” Mendoza said. “We’re getting contributions from guys that have been struggling, and that’s what it’s going to take.”
The exposition
The Mets capped their best week of the season with their best win of the season — a 7-6 comeback win over the Yankees in 10 innings. They took two of three in the series and five of six on the homestand to improve to 20-26.
The Nationals couldn’t finish a sweep of the Orioles on Sunday. Washington managed to finally reach .500 on Saturday before dropping back to 23-24.
The Marlins dropped their rubber game Sunday at Tampa Bay, and they’ve now lost four of their last five series. Miami is 21-26 on the season. It hosts Atlanta for four before welcoming the Mets this weekend.
The pitching possibles
at Washington
RHP Christian Scott (0-0, 3.45 ERA) v. RHP Jake Irvin (1-4, 5.91 ERA)
TBD v. LHP Foster Griffin (4-2, 3.53)
RHP Nolan McLean (2-2, 2.92) v. RHP Zack Littell (2-4, 6.10)
LHP David Peterson (2-4, 5.40) v. RHP Cade Cavalli (1-2, 4.02)
at Miami
RHP Freddy Peralta (3-3, 3.31) v. RHP Eury Pérez (2-6, 5.33)
RHP Christian Scott v. RHP Max Meyer (3-0, 3.21)
TBD v. LHP Braxton Garrett (0-1, 33.75)
Note: The Mets could keep McLean on turn and throw him Tuesday (and Sunday) with the fill-in for Clay Holmes starting Wednesday. But they’ve discussed giving McLean the extra day, and teams usually don’t discuss that and then not do it.
The TBD options
Tobias Myers + Long man
The Mets could gradually transition Myers into a starting role in Holmes’ spot, though his innings would be limited for the first few turns. For most of this month, Myers’ outings have been shorter: He’s thrown 5 2/3 innings in his past five appearances, and hasn’t thrown more than 25 pitches in a game since May 2. So if he were to start Tuesday or Wednesday, he could probably go two innings and 30 pitches or so.
That means the Mets would need to pair Myers with a long man. Manaea threw four innings Sunday, which rules him out. New York could call up a pitcher to give more length behind Myers. Jonathan Pintaro would be the logical choice there, given that he’s already on the 40-man. Pintaro could probably go two innings as well.
Jonah Tong
Tong actually lines up to start Tuesday or Wednesday, and he has the best stuff of the Mets’ options in the minors. However, Tong’s start to 2026 has been uneven at best, and he was hit around in his last outing last week, allowing seven runs in 1 2/3 innings.
Jack Wenninger
Wenninger started Sunday for Syracuse, ruling him out for a call-up this week. While his ERA is outstanding, there is some concern about his walk issues.
Zach Thornton
The lefty Thornton has made two solid starts for Syracuse since getting bumped up from Double-A Binghamton. Thornton showed in spring training that he can command the strike zone and hold his own against big-league hitters; on the other hand, his stuff is not yet on the same level as Tong or even Wenninger. Thornton would not be able to start until Wednesday.
Ranking game
Without thinking much, here’s a ranking of the Mets’ 10 best wins in the Subway Series:
10. Mets 3, Yankees 2 (July 3, 2011)
You remember that Ronny Paulino game-tying hit off Mariano Rivera in the ninth, right? Before the Jason Bay winner?
9. Mets 8, Yankees 0 (June 15, 2002)
Shawn Estes hit Roger Clemens (but not the way you think).
8. Mets 6, Yankees 5 (July 4, 2004)
A very mediocre Mets team capped the “Richard Hidalgo Series” with the franchise’s first-ever sweep of the Yankees.
7. Mets 6, Yankees 0 (June 16, 1997)
Dave Mlicki’s defining performance as a Met.
6. Mets 7, Yankees 6 (September 12, 2021)
Francisco Lindor’s three homers gave him his first big moment as a Met.
5. Mets 4, Yankees 3 (August 28, 2020)
“The Mets’ Amed Rosario hit a walk-off home run in the seventh inning at Yankee Stadium” is a sentence that will never feel right.
4. Mets 2, Yankees 1 (May 28, 2013)
The Mets went double, single and Lucas Duda single off Rivera to score two runs and walk it off before the closer could record an out.
3. Mets 7, Yankees 6 (May 17, 2026)
The way the rest of the season plays out will color how you remember this game, but if the Mets do get it together sometime this season, Taylor’s home run will loom large.
2. Mets 7, Yankees 6 (May 19, 2006)
You can still picture David Wright hopping down the first-base line.
1. Mets 9, Yankees 8 (July 10, 1999)
Matt Franco’s game-winner polished off a game that ranks among the best regular-season contests in team history.
Injury updates
Mets’ injured list
Player
Injury
Elig.
ETA
Left meniscus tear
Now
May
Rib fracture
May 24
June
Left lat surgery
Now
June
Right wrist contusion
Now
June
Lumbar spine inflammation
Now
June
Fractured left thumb
Now
June
Left meniscus tear
Now
June
Right meniscus tear
May 23
July
Lumbar spine disc herniation
Now
July
Left calf strain
Now
July
Fractured right fibula
May 31
August
Tommy John surgery
May 24
2027
Tommy John surgery
May 24
2027
Tommy John surgery
May 24
2027
Red = 60-day IL
Orange = 15-day IL
Blue = 10-day IL
Gray = minor-league IL of note
Holmes’ timetable is unspecified beyond “a long time.” The Mets will wait until his broken fibula heals — at this moment, Holmes doesn’t think surgery will be necessary — before he starts throwing again. That healing process can take six to eight weeks, and in general, a pitcher needs as much time to build up as time he took off — so add another six to eight weeks to that before a return. That means August is probably close to a best-case scenario for Holmes, and it’s possible he doesn’t make another start this season.
Jorge Polanco will travel with the Mets to Washington to continue partaking in baseball activities. Mendoza said Sunday that Polanco’s return will come down to pain tolerance. “He’s going to be feeling it,” Mendoza said. “Hopefully it goes away, but it’s something he’s probably going to have to manage.”
The Mets are still waiting for Luis Robert Jr.’s back soreness to go away. Unlike Polanco, Robert will not travel with the team this week. The timetable is unclear for him.
Jared Young started a rehab assignment with Low-A St. Lucie on Friday. The Mets weren’t sure how long that assignment would be.
Kodai Senga threw a bullpen session on the field earlier this week. He still needs to do that a couple more times before going out on a rehab.
Minor-league schedule
Triple-A: Syracuse v. Buffalo (Toronto)
Double-A: Binghamton at Richmond (San Francisco)
High-A: Brooklyn v. Hudson Valley (New York, AL)
Low-A: St. Lucie v. Palm Beach (St. Louis)
A note on the epigraph
Before it even came out, I joked with a friend that “Transcription” looked specifically written for me. I’ve read all of Lerner’s other novels (and even some of his poetry), and now he was writing one about the anxiety of recording an interview? As someone who looks down to make sure his recorder is working roughly every two minutes while conducting one, yeah, sign me up.
It’s the slimmest of Lerner’s novels and even less plot-driven than his not-very-plot-driven other novels. In that sense, it left me wanting a little bit more. It’s still really enjoyable on the sentence level — the epigraph is the kind of parenthetical digression that Lerner really excels at — and I might just go back and read it again on the train to Washington this week.
Trivia time
In that 9-8 win over the Yankees in 1999, the Yankees hit six home runs — and the Mets only one. But that one was a memorably long blast. Who hit it, and which Yankees pitcher gave it up?
(I’ll reply to the correct answer in the comments.)