Slumping Michael Conforto catches a break in Mets' bizarre win over Marlins
Michael Conforto #30 of the Mets celebrates with his teammates after his ninth inning walk off walk against the Miami Marlins at Citi Field on Thursday, Apr. 8, 2021. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Michael Conforto was a desperate man in the ninth inning of Thursday’s home opener at Citi Field.
Off to a terrible start this season, having stranded a small army of Mets through his first three games, Conforto actually was booed after hitting into a double play that ended the seventh.
Let that sink in for a moment.
On a beautiful sunny day, with Citi Field finally open to the public for the first time in a more than a year — one ravaged by a worldwide pandemic — fans still found it in their hearts to boo the homegrown star they’ve begged new owner Steve Cohen to re-sign.
That’s how bleak things had gotten for Conforto as he stepped to the plate Thursday in the ninth with the bases loaded, one out and the score tied at 2.
We’re not saying Conforto didn’t deserve to hear those boos. But it does help to understand why he took the extreme action that delivered the Mets’ 3-2 victory, perhaps the strangest in recent memory. And for this franchise, that’s saying something.
Plate umpire Ron Kulpa didn’t immediately see it that way. But to everyone else, it was obvious that Conforto, down 1-and-2 in the count, stuck his right elbow pad into the strike zone, drawing a nearly imperceptible glancing blow that forced home Luis Guillorme with the winning run.
How slight was the contact? Kulpa initially rung up Conforto before changing his mind and pointed him to first base, where he was mobbed by teammates and "New York Groove" — the Mets’ anthem after each home victory — blared over the ballpark’s speakers. Meanwhile, confusion reigned.
Marlins manager Don Mattingly launched into a furious tirade at Kulpa, who then gathered with the other umpires before going to the video review. Problem was, only the contact was subject to the replay, which confirmed it.
As for Conforto’s intent, that was a judgment call, and Kulpa’s faulty decision could not be reversed — even though the umpire admitted his mistake after it was too late to do anything about it.
"The guy was hit by the pitch in the strike zone," Kulpa said afterward to a pool reporter. "I should have called him out."
Long before Kulpa’s, um, mea culpa, the Mets knew they stole this one. Jeff McNeil, who led off the ninth with a tying homer and bat flip that electrified the Citi Field crowd, acknowledged they "caught a little break." Conforto wasn’t quite that obvious, but he navigated the postgame Zoom session with a guilty conscience.
"It was a slider coming back at me," Conforto said, "There may have been a little turn of my elbow and it barely skimmed my elbow guard."
Watch the video. This was way more than an elbow turn. Conforto starts to bring his hands back, as if to load up for a swing, then blatantly stretches his front arm and elbow into the strike zone.
"I didn’t realize my elbow was so far out there," Conforto said. "With two strikes, I went into battle mode and I tend to lean over the plate when I get into battle mode."
Conforto has been in "battle mode" since this walk year began, and a day earlier, in an 8-2 loss to the Phillies, he stranded nine of the Mets’ 14 runners left on base. Not a great start for someone pushing for a $200 million contract extension, and Conforto looked as if he already was feeling the pressure Thursday.
The boos didn’t help. Neither did falling behind 0-and-2 in a blink. Conforto must have felt as if he were drowning. Then Kulpa threw him a life jacket.
"We got the win and it got the job done," Conforto said. "But I’d like to use the bat next time."
If the situations had been flipped and Conforto’s elbow had plated the tying run before McNeil hammered a walk-off homer, maybe this queasy feeling could have been avoided. But it didn’t go down that way.
Even as the Mets were celebrating and the music blared, many of the fans weren’t sure what really happened. They didn’t know whether to watch the Conforto party at first base or Mattingly chasing the umpires over by the Marlins’ dugout.
Mattingly, a 14-year Yankee who’s been a coach or manager since his retirement, said he had never seen such a bizarre finish.
"It was in the strike zone when he got it, so it should be a strike," Mattingly said. "He didn’t get hit by a pitch — he got hit by a strike."
The Mets weren’t complaining. Privately, we’re sure they’d admit Kulpa’s blunder. But after dropping two of three in Philly and coming within three outs of losing the Citi opener when the bats went silent again, the Mets were happy to take a "W" any way they could get it.
When manager Luis Rojas was asked if it was the right call, he didn’t hesitate to answer in the affirmative — even though he had to know otherwise.
"Obviously, it’s not the way I wanted to win the ballgame," Conforto said. "I wanted to go up there and put the ball in play."
But Conforto did the only thing he could do. And the Mets were lucky that it was enough.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
