Mets relish no-hitter memories and souvenirs, but not for long 

The Megills had a watch party at their Southern California home, as they always do for Tylor’s starts, and the atmosphere sounded “wild,” he said.

Edwin Diaz’s wife, Nashaly, was in the stands with their two young sons at Citi Field and cried during and after the ninth inning.

Drew Smith’s father, DeWayne, already was asleep in Fort Worth, Texas, when an alert on his phone told him that his kid was in the game. Then he stayed up for the rest despite a looming 5 a.m. wake-up for work, because the broadcast had mentioned the developing history on the line.

These are some of the stories and details that emerged Saturday, a day after the second no-hitter in Mets history, a combined effort from Megill (five innings), Smith (four outs), Joely Rodriguez (three outs), Seth Lugo (two outs) and Edwin Diaz (three outs) against the Phillies.

“The high of a lifetime,” Megill said.

The magnitude of what they accomplished started to set in for Smith late Friday when a Mets official said the five pitchers would be asked to sign an authenticated game-used baseball to be sent to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. But it really set in Saturday morning when he talked to his dad, who runs his own landscaping business in their hometown.

“I didn’t sleep much last night. I fell asleep at like 3 or 4 or 5 a.m. I was amped up. It’s still surreal. I still can’t believe it. It’s crazy,” Smith said. “I guess it started hitting me a little bit last night, but then it went away pretty quick .  .  . [His dad] said it was awesome. I told him about the Hall of Fame thing, and I could hear the excitement in his voice. It was pretty cool.”

The history Friday made Saturday a day for keepsakes. The pitchers and catcher James McCann were able to keep their jerseys and hats from their appearances, and as far as anybody around the team knew, the rubber was still installed into the mound, to be used indefinitely. The ball from the final out — Diaz’s strikeout of J.T. Realmuto on another nasty slider — was in the custody of Amazin’ Memorabilia, the organization’s collectibles arm, its long-term home to be determined.

McCann called dibs on home plate. He hopes to hang it on the wall in his Nashville-area home, right next to the one from the other no-hitter he caught, Lucas Giolito’s for the White Sox against the Pirates on Aug. 25, 2020.

“That’s the big souvenir,” McCann said.

Manager Buck Showalter, noting that usually he enjoys a victory only while “walking up the 10 steps” from the dugout to the clubhouse, allowed that this occasion was different.

“That one is a little bit longer,” he said. “I had a lot of fun watching the guys up here. That’s what you take out of it. It’s apropos that it was so much of a team no-hitter. Good defensive plays, multiple guys [pitchers]. I hope it says a lot about the way we’re going to have to do things — every team does — to get where you want to get.”

And then it was close to time to move on. Megill’s workday featured his normal day-after-a-start routine, including physical therapy and cardio, with his next start against Atlanta just four days away. Smith was excited to show up knowing he had the day off, having thrown 36 pitches across 1 1⁄3 innings the day before. McCann was in the lineup against Philadelphia.

“It’ll take a day or two to get over it, but I’ll get over it,” Megill said. “Come back to reality in a way.”

McCann said: “It’s still special. It’ll always be special. It’ll always be one of those things that you look back on. Some of your top memories of your career. But at the same time, today is a new day, and our job today is to go win.”

By Tim Healey

timothy.healey@newsday.com@timbhealey

Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.