Mets’ performance testament to legends Tom Seaver, Jackie Robinson

The Mets had 41 on their minds and 42 on their backs, and then fittingly continued the honoring of Tom Seaver and Jackie Robinson from the pregame to the actual home opener.

Their starting pitcher excelled. A guy named for Robinson hit a homer. And Francisco Lindor and Starling Marte produced a baseball daily-double that should be called a “Jackie” — both stole a base that led to a run and hit a homer; Lindor hit two, one from each side of the plate.

Plus Seaver in changing the losing culture of the Mets and Robinson in changing the whole darn sport 75 years to the day earlier by breaking the color barrier also were renowned for their tough-mindedness. The Mets offered that too on Friday. As Buck Showalter said, “We got thrown a pretty good curveball” in learning after their season-opening road trip that starting outfielders Mark Canha and Brandon Nimmo had tested positive for COVID-19 and would not be available.

“I told the players, I told the coaches in an advance meeting today this is what we do, prepare for things like this,” Showalter said before the game. “No one cares about your problems, they are all glad you’ve got them. Think the other four teams in our division wake up and see Nimmo and Canha … they don’t care.”

In actuality, the Mets might have to be down 10 or 11 players to make this a fair fight. The 2022 expectations were low for the Diamondbacks coming off 110 losses and then they played a shabby game Friday in which their infield played poorly, and their offense played worse. It was a difficult sun to play at Citi Field. But the Diamondbacks train and play in a state in which the professional basketball team literally is named the Suns.

That the D’backs did not handle the environment well spoke to their quality. But what good teams do over the long season is bulk up their record by beating bad ones. The Mets have done that to date. They took three of four from the overmatched Nationals to open the 2022 schedule and mauled Arizona 10-3 to improve to 6-2 on the season.

“It was a great day to be a New York Met today,” Lindor said.

There was a late-morning ceremony ringed by hundreds of fans to unveil the statue of Seaver in which it was difficult to keep a dry eye, especially when the Hall of Famer’s widow, Nancy, turned to the 10-foot high piece of art and said, “Hello, Tom. It’s so nice to have you where you belong.”

Aptly on this day Chris Bassitt then held Arizona to one run on two hits over six innings. More than anything in their history — with Seaver as the launch point — the Mets are renowned for starting pitching. Through eight games the rotation has a 1.32 ERA.

That is with Jacob deGrom out and Taijuan Walker now ailing. But Showalter has insisted that when others are absent, “It’s actually time to shine and separate yourself.”

Travis Jankowski, who would not have played if the Mets were whole, had three hits. Robinson Cano — note the first name — learned about 90 minutes before first pitch that he would be manning second not DHing. He homered in the fourth inning.

The dynamic stars, though, were Marte hitting second and Lindor third. They combined for five hits, six runs, six RBIs, two steals and three homers.

“This was a good read of what this team can be,” Bassitt said.

Bassitt played a few months last year with Marte after he was acquired by the A’s. He saw Marte steal 25 bases in 27 tries in just 56 games with Oakland. Marte had 47 on the season — seven more than any other player. Everyone on the field — as they do on this date each year — wore Robinson’s No. 42. But at a time when the steal has drifted out of the game, Marte offered a wonderful reminder and tribute, too.

“The stolen base is undervalued in the game today,” Bassitt said. “When Starling is on first the amount of pressure he puts on a team is immense. You just see a lot more mistakes.”

In the third inning, with the Mets up 1-0, Marte reached on a force out, stole second, took third on a throwing error by catcher Jose Herrera and scored on a fly out. Marte led off the fifth with a single. Arizona starter Zach Davies, attention not fully on the hitter, threw over to first three times while running the count full on Lindor. Then with Marte running, Davies left a sinker delectably up and Lindor crushed a two-run homer that made it 5-0 and knocked the righty out of the game.

“For sure,” Marte said, when asked if he is a distraction when on base.

But for those paying attention, this was a wonderful day for the Mets. They honored legends — before and during the home opener.