The Mets kids are alright: It's time to go all-in on the youth movement

So that's what following the New York Mets is supposed to feel like! The team got its first signature win of the season last night, coming from behind three separate times to beat the Tampa Bay Rays, MLB's best team, in ten innings.

The win wouldn't have been possible without the heroics of Mark Vientos, who homered to straightaway center field in his first start after being called up from AAA Syracuse, and Francisco Alvarez, who sent the game to extra innings with a three-run, no-doubt mush job when the Mets were down to their last out.

Kodai Senga and Pete Alonso also put on their capes in this one, but I'll leave it to my colleagues to sing their praises. For me, the story of the night was the precocious efforts of the baby Mets, who brought light tower power and a palpable electricity to a Citi Field crowd that has been waiting all season for something to get excited about. In an emotional rollercoaster of a game, Vientos and Alvarez were the loop-the-loops.

Last night proved that the Mets need to fully commit to the youth movement.

Vientos proved that he was ready for his close-up after weeks of entreaties from Mets fans to bring him up, sending the crowd into a frenzy with his two-run tying shot in the seventh.

Alvarez showed off the spectacular power we raved about last week, solidifying himself in a lineup whose only source of muscle has been Pete Alonso. The Rays stole with reckless abandon with him behind the plate, but I'm not worried about his defense right now when he can do something like this:

Just as important as the undeniable hitting ability that Vientos and Alvarez showcased, was the contagious energy they brought to the ballpark. Watch the two videos above and try to remember the last time the Mets' dugout and the Citi Field crowd went so berserk.

It certainly hasn't happened this year. Look at the emotion from Vientos and Alvarez. I can't overstate how badly the team needs exactly this. Buck Showalter, Mets security won't let me into your office to see you. If somehow you're reading this, don't fight it. Embrace the youth movement.

Vientos and Alvarez aren't alone on the vanguard of this new era of Mets baseball. Brett Baty has shown a sweet swing that will only get better over time, and he's been more than capable at third base. Like Vientos, Ronny Mauricio is tearing it up in AAA, making it only a matter of time until he joins his buddies in the majors.

The Mets need players that are going to attack.

The team has been plagued by an inability to drive in runners, in part because so many players have been far too passive. The Mets have the second lowest swing percentage in the majors.

No player on the team embodies this ethos more than Daniel Vogelbach. Last night was the low point for Vogelbach's take-first philosophy, and it couldn't have stood in sharper relief to the seize-the-moment gumption displayed by Vientos and Alvarez in clutch situations. Vogelbach struck out on four pitches in the sixth inning, never taking the bat off his beefy shoulder. That inexcusably stranded the potential tying run on second base, keeping the Mets scoreless.

The time for batting Tommy Pham fifth is over. Starling Marte swung at a pitch that was farther outside than 50 Cent's infamous delivery years ago. Marte and Mark Canha each got hit by a pitch last night, which, like the unathletic kid on a youth baseball team, seems like the only way they can contribute right now. Cue Morris Buttermaker.

The Mets' young guns are exactly what the team needs right now, the antithesis to the uninspired play of the team's aging veterans. Unlike most teams that pivot mid-season towards young players, though, this wouldn't be a tank job.

Mark Vientos, Francisco Alvarez, Bretty Baty, and Ronny Mauricio give this team the best chance to win right now. As Vientos said after the game, "We grew up through the system with each other. We're basically brothers." This is our family now, Mets fans. Let the kids play.