This Week in Mets Quotes: Baty homers in debut, Nimmo disappointed dropping series to Braves

Your 2022 New York Mets: I’m not that disappointed, I am just disappointed.

“We won four [of five] when we were back at our place and they won three when we were here. I am not that disappointed. I am just more disappointed in that I feel like there were some things in this game we could have done a little slightly better and maybe we pull away with this one, but that’s baseball. When good baseball happens it’s usually one or two things.” -Brandon Nimmo [New York Post]

Congratulations to Brett Baty on his debut and first major league home run.

“I’m here for a reason. I’ll let it show.” -Brett Baty [MLB]

“He probably thinks he belongs here now. That’s a good thing. That’s what we need.” -Max Scherzer [MLB]

“Regardless of what happens, there is a moment that you kind of step back and take it all in from a baseball fan standpoint and put yourself in their shoes a little bit. You do kind of live through it with them and hope that things go well for them.” -Buck Showalter [MLB]

“Just pure joy. To be able to help this ballclub out in my first at-bat, and then to look up and see my family up there and be able to celebrate it with them? Just pure joy for sure.” -Brett Baty [MLB]

“Definitely putting emphasis on these last two months, it’s been really fun out there for sure. I’ve been going out there with so much confidence, and playing with confidence, you’re always going to have fun. I’m just looking to … be the best baseball player I can be to help the New York Mets in the future.” -Brett Baty [MLB]

Max on changing his approach given the state of the bullpen.

“In that type of situation, you don’t try to punch as many tickets. You’re trying to just collect outs and not walk anybody.” -Max Scherzer [New York Post]

Taijuan Walker also wanted to save the pen but wasn’t able to.

“I knew my job was to go as deep as possible and try to give the bullpen a break. I felt like my stuff was good and felt like I would go six-plus innings and it sucks and the timing couldn’t be worse for something like this. A couple of guys just got called up and had to go out and wear it and it’s tough … hopefully we regroup [Wednesday] and kind of ‘next man up’ mentality right now.” -Taijuan Walker [New York Post]

Really funny that Brandon Nimmo is a grizzled veteran at this point.

“You can get complacent, but I think we know that these next two weeks are pretty important. We have the Phillies, Braves, Phillies again and then we have the Yankees, so this is a nice little stretch we have got here. If you were to let up off the throttle, things could go badly quickly.” -Brandon Nimmo [New York Post]

“I think this team is built for the playoffs. I really think that we can do well in it, even more than just getting there we have a goal of winning.” -Brandon Nimmo [New York Post]

“Forget about yesterday and try to get the win today. We were telling ourselves over the Cincinnati series, we have got to act like we’re playing the Braves and we have got to keep the foot down because these are games we can gain. Those are the things you focus on now.” -Brandon Nimmo [New York Post]

From your lips to Dickey’s ears.

“You want to be out there, but at the same time, it took that long to get back. You don’t want to do anything to jeopardize being here for hopefully the push we go on, and hopefully into the World Series.” -Jacob deGrom [MLB]

Edwin Díaz on deGoat.

“He’s on another planet. He’s the goat.” -Edwin Díaz [MLB]

Legit had to Wikipedia ‘governor’ to understand Buck’s, of course, correct usage.

“Am I shackling him? I’ve got a governor on him, how’s that? We’ll see. We’ll take each start as it comes.” -Buck Showalter [MLB]

Another Buck-ism with his use of the ‘arteries’.

“Everything is arteries of things that happen. If starters don’t get you into games, there are no roles in the bullpen. When guys are going consistently into the fifth, sixth and seventh inning, everything is affected in the bullpen.” -Buck Showalter [The Athletic]

Must read interview with Luis Guillermo (please come back soon).

“Q: How would Buck Showalter look with a beard?

A: I think he can pull it off. I don’t think he’d like it, but I think he can pull it off.” -Luis Guillermo [New York Post]

“Q: How do you feel emotionally when you make an error?

A: I’m not a fan. I know people see it as I made an error and it might cost the pitcher runs, right? But people talk about it sometimes where you make an error, then you get a ground ball for a double play, you get out of the inning, didn’t matter. The way I look at is when I make an error, I’m making that pitcher throw extra pitches. So if that guy threw an extra five, seven pitches ’cause of me, I might have just taken an inning out of him. And at the same time, you might take money out of that guy ’cause he threw one less inning, or he had to throw to an extra batter. Whatever it is, the way I look at it is I’m making that guy throw more pitches.” -Luis Guillermo [New York Post]

Hope things work out for Syndegaard though loses 1-0 games for the rest of this season.

“Part of the reason why I made the move to the Angels, to the West Coast, was just because that energy that can make New York so great and positive can also bite you in the butt a little bit — especially with what I’m going through right now, a little dip in velocity. I’m still trying to rely on location and mixing things up. And I feel like if I was doing that playing here, everything would just be highlighted. That’s a big fear of mine.” -Noah Syndergaard [MLB]

“It’s great witnessing their success from a distance. I’m still rooting for those guys on the other side.” -Noah Syndergaard [MLB]

Trevor May talking offspeed pitches...

“The issue with (the straight change) is it’s not movement-based. It’s depth, it’s a change in velocity. At times, especially when the fastball is feeling really good, that (changeup) velocity started to creep up and it moves very similar to it, so it turns effectively into a slow fastball and it becomes less and less effective. I got hurt a little bit on it last year; I didn’t locate it very well.” -Trevor May [The Athletic]

...Darin Ruf talking offspeed pitches (which are also his fastball).

“You never want to pitch as a position player, but you understand it sometimes, over 162 games the possibility is real. It’s becoming more of a role for a bench player to be able to go in and eat some of those innings.” -Darin Ruf [New York Post]

Bill Webb taught him well.

“We’d covered him coming in before, but we never blew off a commercial break to show the whole thing. And we’d never sent the camera crew down there to do the dramatic, from-behind shot. I had it in my back pocket all year, and I was waiting for the right game to do it.” -John DeMarsico [New York Times]

“Baseball is inherently cinematic, more so than other sports. In football and basketball, there’s so much speed. In baseball, there is no clock. The geography of the field is very structured. You’re able to set the scene, and establish the confrontations between batter and pitcher like a duel in a western.” -John DeMarsico [New York Times]

Still feels good to act like a big market team again.

“Working in a big market and working for somebody like Steve is exciting because of the possibilities that are created, but I also say you’ve still got to make choices. And so a choice may be to go to a payroll of that level. I think that’s something that will be addressed. I think it will have something to do with what we think is our window of opportunity. It will have something to do with our desire to continue to develop minor league players and not give them up. I think the fact that someone would write that and not everyone responds with skepticism underscores the fact that Steve has brought immense possibility to the franchise.” -Sandy Alderson [New York Post]