This Week in Mets Quotes: deGrom returns, Alonso wants to win division

Your 2022 Mets: You gotta go out there and do it.

“The biggest thing is just that we’re winning games. Who’s on the other side doesn’t matter. You gotta go out there and do it.” -Francisco Lindor [New York Post]

I was surprised how emotional hearing ‘Simple Man’ made me.

“It was kind of emotional walking out there. I hadn’t taken this mound in over a year.” -Jacob deGrom [MLB]

Really says something when Buck is at a loss for words.

“I wish I was more equipped to say something deserving of his outing. It was something to watch.” -Buck Showalter [MLB]

‘Good God’ sums it up.

“I’m like, good God, there’s nothing wrong with him. He’s playing catch at 101 and throwing 96 mph sliders. There’s nothing wrong with him, that’s for sure.” -Brian Snitker [MLB]

Hell yeah.

“We’re motivated, and we want to continue to play well. Our goal is to make the playoffs, win the division and have a chance to play for a World Series. Every single day is an opportunity to move one inch closer.” -Pete Alonso [MLB]

‘Tiddlywinks’? This guy really did grow up in Wyoming.

“It’s probably sad that I’m not that surprised. He is unbelievably talented and unbelievably motivated. If you were playing tiddlywinks, he would want to beat you.” -Brandon Nimmo [MLB]

From your lips to Dickey’s ears.

“We have the best closer in the game and I think we probably have a top-five bullpen in every category. Every single team’s fans are going to complain about their bullpen. So we’ll see how it plays out.” -Adam Ottavino [New York Post]

It was tough to not just post the entire interview in this must read Q&A with Daniel Vogelbach.

“Q: What do you like best about your new team?

A: Just the teammates. I mean, the locker room’s unbelievable, everybody’s super close and everybody has one goal in mind, and that’s hard to find in this game. Every single night we go out there, everybody just wants to win.” -Daniel Vogelbach [New York Post]

“Q: Why do you think you’ve become a folk hero already in New York?

A: I don’t know. … When you play good, people like ya (chuckle). So I mean, I guess that maybe I’ve gotten off to a good start, and people are happy about that, but … this isn’t about me, this is about me being here helping this team win a World Series, and that’s it.” -Daniel Vogelbach [New York Post]

“Q: A quote from you: “I always try to put a smile on someone’s face every day.” That’s pretty neat if you can do that.

A: Absolutely. You never know what someone else is going through, you never know where people are at in their life, and a smile can go a long ways.” -Daniel Vogelbach [New York Post]

Unlike the AL/NL Central who are just going through the motions of being baseball teams.

“This is what you play the game for. You play to face the best, especially deep in the season. You grind it out here in the NL East.” -Max Scherzer [MLB]

Taijuan Walker owned his poor start and than made up for it his next one.

“It wasn’t a good day for me. I don’t want it to happen in a big series like this, but it did and I’m going to move on from it. … My velo wasn’t very good today either and I was leaving too many balls over the middle of the plate. I didn’t do my job today and the bullpen had to wear it, which I’m not proud of at all.” -Taijuan Walker [New York Post]

It was startling to watch in real time...

“I don’t know if I’ve seen that. That’s a baseball player play. You don’t work on that in St. Lucie.” -Buck Showalter [MLB]

...but, of course, Guillorme thought about it before.

“It’s something that I, personally, probably have thought about before. It may or may not happen. It just worked out today.” -Luis Guillorme [MLB]

The Buck Showalter Showalter.

“It’s like you’re mining for gold. You take a piece of gold and put it over there. You take the rock, you put it over here and you sift some more. When you get enough nuggets, you get to play in October. Lindor’s a nugget.” -Buck Showalter [New York Post]

Rooting for Joey Lucchesi

“I look at [the reports] every day because he is a guy that caught my eye in the spring. I think he’s got a chance to help us this year, next year, I like Joey.” -Buck Showalter [New York Post]

‘Bassit’ Hound.

“I think, genuinely, that’s why they brought me over here. I’m not afraid to go over 100 pitches. I want to go 115, 120 pitches every start but Buck don’t let me.” -Chris Bassit [MLB]

Really hope things work out for Dom.

“We bottle so many things up as men that we don’t really understand what we’re feeling or how we’re feeling,” Smith said before playing first base on a rehab assignment Tuesday for Triple-A Syracuse. “We just hold a lot of anger, stress, anxiety, different things that we have to get out. I think journaling is big.” -Dom Smith [MLB]

Cookie on if this is the best rotation he’s been a part of.

“Yes. To be honest with you, yes. Just to have Jake in there, Max — five Cy Youngs together. Bassitt, Tai, [David Peterson], [Tylor] Megill with what he did at the beginning of the season, myself. It feels really good to be part of this rotation.” -Carlos Carrasco [MLB]

[Note to editors: feel free to delete due to length as this probably should be a FanShot (RIP)] Rivera’s use of ‘Enter Sandman’ is so overrated. He’s the best RP in baseball history which, of course, plays it up. But he was assigned the song and always says he never liked it and would’ve wanted a Christian song instead. Billy Wagner had the same song. JJ Putz having ‘Thunderstruck’ with the fans saying ‘J!J!’ instead of ‘thunder’ is way better than hearing the 0-7-5-6-5 of ‘Enter Sandman’.

“I know my walk-up song is really good, but [Mariano Riveria] and ‘Sandman’ was really special. He had like 650 saves with that song.” -Edwin Diaz [SNY]

Hate the Phillies? Hate the Phillies.

‘Hey um my dad is like totally rich and we own this dealership.’