Clay Holmes will be pitching in his third Little League Classic on Sunday for the Mets. Many others will be experiencing the event for the first time.
WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — The Mets are ready to embrace their roots when they venture to the Little League International Complex in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, on Sunday.
In a day chock full of events, the Mets will celebrate youth baseball by greeting the Little League players at the airport and taking in the action of the Little League World Series before closing out their series with the Mariners at 7:10 p.m. at the Journey Bank Ballpark at Bowman Field.
"From the time you show up, you get on the buses with the Little League kids, they’re full go," Clay Holmes, a two-time participant in the Little League Classic, told NorthJersey.com and The Record. "Obviously they’re asking baseball stuff but it’s anything. Anything goes with kids that age. It kind of just shows you the aspect of when baseball is fun and baseball is simple and when it’s just about the team and winning. It’s refreshing to be around."
Sunday will be the eighth installment of the classic, which the Mets have participated in once going back to August 2018 when they took down the Phillies, 8-2. They enter coming off a 3-1 victory over the Mariners on Saturday, behind a eight-strikeout performance by Nolan McLean in his debut.
The event will be a change of pace and a bit of nostalgia for the Mets, who are looking to turn a corner after losing 14 of their last 16 games entering Saturday's action. But it won't be a reprieve, the Mets players know that they still need to stay locked in on the mission at hand.
With the Little League Classic on deck Sunday, here are three things to know about the Mets' trip to Williamsport:
Clay Holmes hits the Little League trifecta
Holmes remembers of the innocence of taking the mound as a 12-year-old.
"It was pretty simple, just kind of rip it and let go in the zone," Holmes said.
The task will be a little more difficult on Sunday night when he takes on the ninth-highest scoring offense in Major League Baseball.
The start is a big one for Holmes, who pitched in the game as a member of the Pirates and Yankees in 2019 and 2024, respectively. The veteran right-hander only lasted 3⅔ innings and allowed five earned runs on six hits and five walks last time out in a no-decision against the Braves.
"I’ll treat it just kind of like any other game really, and make sure that I take care of my routine and stay on top of just the preparation and what I need to do to be ready," Holmes said. "It’s an important game. Obviously right now the wins matter."
During the week, Carlos Mendoza continued to back Holmes in his starting role, saying, "he's going to continue getting opportunities." The former closer enters the game with a 9-6 record, 3.71 ERA and 1.35 ERA across a career high 126 innings.
Holmes has had mixed results in Williamsport. Back in 2019, he threw two scoreless innings with four strikeouts working around one hit and three walks for the Pirates. Last season, he blew a save against the Tigers in an eventual 10-inning loss.
A business trip for Pete Alonso and others
Pete Alonso joked that he expects to learn more from the little leaguers than they will from the five-time All-Star first baseman.
"They’re probably gonna be talking in some sort of lingo that I’m not gonna understand," Alonso told NorthJersey.com.
Alonso said that others who have played in the game, like Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil, have cautioned to fuel up on coffee to match the energy of the kids once they land for the big day ahead.
With the Mets looking to continue to shake off a team-wide slump, the game is a big one for the club's postseason hopes. They enter Sunday 1.5 games up on the Reds for the final playoff spot in the National League.
"You got to be locked," Alonso said. "It’s fun seeing the perspective. These kids have fresh eyes on the game. At the end of the day, we’re all big kids at heart. It should be really exciting."
The experience will mean that much more for the Mets if they can carry some momentum into a weeklong road trip next week, which includes stops in the Washington, D.C., and Atlanta.
"It’s fun to be there, but at the same time, we’re there, we’re playing a big league game and the wins and losses matter," Holmes said. "There’s still that aspect to it. It’s not like you’re just at a carnival. It’s like, ‘Hey, there’s something important here, and there’s a win to be had.'"
Francisco Lindor enters swinging a hot bat
As Francisco Lindor goes, the Mets offense generally goes, and the shortstop is back to stacking up influential performances after going 0-for-30 in late July and 0-for-19 earlier this month.
In Saturday's 3-1 win, Lindor posted his fourth straight multi-hit performance. Over the Mets' last five games, Lindor is 11-for-20 with three home runs, nine runs, six RBIs and no strikeouts.
"What was happening was it was 0-for-20, 0-for-30, that's not the standard we have here," Lindor said. "Hopefully when I do go through it again, it's not as long. Just try to ride this wave as long as I can and try to stay up on it and hopefully it can be all the way to the end of the year."
Lindor is hoping to carry over that recent success in the Mets' momentous trip on Sunday.
"I never had the opportunity to be in the Little League World Series and I only saw it on TV, so I'm sure it's going to be a dream come true for a lot of players, a lot of kids out there," Lindor said. "And for us, it's going to be a good experience and it's going to take us back to where everything started."
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NY Mets: Things to watch in the Little League Classic against Mariners
Category: Baseball
