{"id":247545,"date":"2021-05-12T10:12:44","date_gmt":"2021-05-12T07:12:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/patrick-mazeika-quickly-becoming-mets-lucky-charm\/"},"modified":"2021-05-12T10:12:44","modified_gmt":"2021-05-12T07:12:44","slug":"patrick-mazeika-quickly-becoming-mets-lucky-charm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/patrick-mazeika-quickly-becoming-mets-lucky-charm\/","title":{"rendered":"#Patrick Mazeika quickly becoming Mets’ lucky charm"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Patrick Mazeika quickly becoming Mets’ lucky charm<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n

Do the Mets have themselves a lucky charm?<\/p>\n

Or is Patrick Mazeika\u2019s true sorcery the simple ability to make contact in an era of three true outcomes?<\/p>\n

Either way, this has proven one hell of a homestand for the Mets\u2019 rookie.<\/p>\n

The third-string catcher delivered his second walk-off fielder\u2019s choice in five days, his ninth-inning, two-out tapp<\/a>er to Orioles first baseman Trey Mancini proving sufficiently slow for Jonathan Villar to beat the throw home and give the Mets their sixth straight victory, 3-2 over the Orioles Tuesday night at Citi Field.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a savage. He\u2019s pretty cool,\u201d said Dom Smith, whose game<\/a>-tying single off Orioles closer Cesar Valdez set the stage for Mazeika\u2019s encore. \u201cFor him to come up and help us win these ballgames, it\u2019s pretty unique. The fact that he hasn\u2019t gotten a hit yet but is still contributing, it\u2019s showing how funny the game of baseball can be.\u201d<\/p>\n

You read that right: Mazeika, 27, the Mets\u2019 eighth-round pick of their 2015 amateur draft, has zero career major league hits in four games. He has three RBIs, two of them game-winners, which a lengthy (pretend) statistical analysis concludes is a pretty strong ratio.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was the last man on the bench again,\u201d Mazeika said. \u201cI\u2019m always ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

In honor of this 1969 World Series<\/a> reunion, Citi\u2019s scoreboard went retro, utilizing the ancient computer graphics from 52 years ago, and the game followed suit, a tight contest, with Marcus Stroman clocking a strong 6 \u00b9\/\u2083 innings only to receive zero run support. Michael Conforto broke the Baltimore shutout with an RBI single in the eighth, and \u201cBench Mob\u201d capos Kevin Pillar and Jonathan Villar started off the ninth with back-to-back singles. Smith picked up his heavily struggling teammate James McCann, who struck out after trying and failing to bunt his teammates over.<\/p>\n

\"Patrick
Patrick Mazeika gets mobbed by teammates after his game-winning fielder\u2019s choice gave the Mets a 3-2 win over the Orioles. <\/figcaption>
N.Y. Post: Charles Wenzelberg<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Up came Mazeika, pinch itting for Jeurys Familia, and the crowd responded positively, surely remembering how he ended Friday night\u2019s classic \u2014 the one when Francico Lindor and Jeff McNeil went at it in the tunnel connecting the dugout to the clubhouse, then concocted an absurd story about a rat, a raccoon and a possum \u2014 with a 10th-inning, bases-loaded, one-out comebacker that Diamondbacks pitcher Stefan Crichton couldn\u2019t convert into the necessary out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hate striking out regardless of my situation,\u201d Mazeika said, and he showed that, fighting through an 0-and-2 hole by fouling off a trio of pitches while taking two balls. Valdez\u2019s final offering was a changeup low in the zone that Mazeika admittedly couldn\u2019t lift, and it measured a modest exit velocity of 64.9 miles per hour. Just perfect, it turned out, for the victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cMazeika, just knowing him from the past, he\u2019s known for taking quality at-bats, and that\u2019s what he\u2019s done every time he\u2019s been up there,\u201d manager Luis Rojas said. \u201cHe\u2019s put the ball in play, and another one when he walked [on Sunday, with the bases loaded]. That\u2019s what got him here even before his catching.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust watching him perform out there and take at-bats against closers, it\u2019s definitely fun to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n