NY Mets News: Francisco Lindor’s impact, Mark Vientos delusion, new HR celebration

A 7-5 win over the Atlanta Braves on a night when they got two home runs from Bo Bichette and another from Juan Soto immediately after the first is reason to celebrate. The New York Mets didn’t look quite themselves in full on Friday, relying on their bullpen to make up for Nolan McLean’s wild night that ended after 4 innings.

The good news is they knocked Spencer Strider flat on his glutes after retiring only 9 batters. What about a few of the other happenings around the Mets?

Francisco Lindor is on his way back and there’s a question

Maybe June won’t sink the Mets (completely) after all. Francisco Lindor is expected to return to the lineup before the month is over. The third full month of the MLB season has a knack for changing the direction of teams or confirming who they really are. In 2024, the Mets figured it all out. In 2025, exactly a year later on June 12, they won but the season crashed and burned following the Kodai Senga injury, not that they were mutually exclusive.

The impact of Lindor’s return is self-explanatory. An MVP candidate for several seasons, his presence adds length to the Mets lineup. It may also signal a change many have been craving but now might not be so sure about with Bo Bichette dropping in the order. Carson Benge has won the leadoff spot. Juan Soto has to hit no lower than third. What do the Mets do with Lindor?

No one is buying what David Stearns is selling about Mark Vientos

David Stearns spoke before the game and didn’t really say anything surprising. He didn’t lambast the team he built (why would he when he was the architect?) and even came across as accepting of how Mark Vientos has performed on defense.

You. Gotta. Be. Kidding. Me.

There were better ways to answer this even without throwing Vientos under the bus. If he can be openly critical of Vientos’ offense, he can do the same with the defense. At times, it’s the poor glove work which has been even more frustrating and that’s not necessarily all on Vientos. He is still trying to replace what Pete Alonso gave them which was one of the most debated topics among Mets fans. Was Alonso actually a good defensive first baseman or not?

In either case, Vientos isn’t getting the job done. Openly, Stearns doesn’t sound ready to abandon this property.

The Mets have a new home run celebration

Not lost on anyone is how the Mets debuted a new Spider-Man mask on the two-year anniversary of Grimace’s first pitch.

New gimmick we’ll all fall in love with? We can only hope so. The mask didn’t make it through the night completely, losing an eye by the time Bo Bichette put it on after his second home run.

In comparison to the sledgehammer which morphed into a construction worker’s outfit, this one is far sillier yet a little more natural feeling. Putting on a construction worker’s vest never felt right. The Spider-Man mask feels a little more timeless and harder to mock. We’ll see how we feel about it when someone is prancing around the dugout in a 12-1 game in the 8th.

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