Mets now know what it feels like to win Game 7 of the World Series after '27 Outs' drill
Mets manager Luis Rojas during a spring training workout at Clover Park in Port St. Lucie, Fla., on Wednesday. Credit: Newsday/Alejandra Villa Loarca
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — The Mets won the imaginary World Series on Wednesday morning. They clinched it with an imaginary defensive gem.
And then they celebrated for real — or was it for surreal? — on the field at Clover Park.
It was all part of a drill called "27 Outs" that manager Luis Rojas and his coaches cooked up for a day in which the Mets had no game.
The drill consists of coaches hitting the ball to a fully-manned defense and the defense recording 27 "outs" without making an error. The Mets made seven errors in a two-game span on Sunday and Monday, so this drill was not certain to end before sundown.
But the Mets were up to the task and were rewarded after 26 outs with a yelled-out call to make the last one the final out of the seventh game of the World Series. And to celebrate.
The final out was a fake swing and a fake over-the-wall catch by Michael Conforto in right.
Then the players threw their gloves into the air, jumped around and celebrated together on the grass behind second base as if they had won it all.
"We’re here because we want to win the championship," Rojas said. "We want to win it, we want to celebrate, we want to bring it to the fanbase, the organization. Me being here 15 years, it would be a dream come true seeing it and watching everybody celebrate like that."
Alonso, McNeil renewed
The business side of the game: The Mets announced that they had agreed to terms with 15 players, all younger players who aren’t arbitration-eligible yet.
But two key players — Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil — were not able to come to an agreement with the club on their 2021 salaries and were "renewed" — that is to say, given contracts with undisclosed salaries of the Mets’ choosing.
Alonso’s base salary in 2020 (before it was reduced by the shortened season) was $650,000. McNeil’s was $617,000.
Lindor donates $1 million to school
Shortstop Francisco Lindor announced a $1 million donation toward a new building to be called Lindor Hall at Montverde (Florida) Academy, the middle school that Lindor attended. Lindor also announced he was establishing a scholarship fund there.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
