Mets’ London excursion is ultimately a business trip

LONDON – Pete Alonso threw a curveball.

Several minutes into his press conference Friday, Alonso began peppering local reporters about where to best locate the cuisines most associated with the city, including if he could find a traditional Sunday roast before Sunday.

This was the day after the Mets traveling group and their families had a huge welcome dinner aboard the Cutty Sark, which is now a museum, and Alonso and a few relievers drifted to a pub for what the first baseman colloquially regaled was “a proper pint of Guinness.” It also was not long after his dais mate for the press conference, Sean Manaea, had playfully sparred with a reporter if Hershey or Cadbury was the better chocolate and the Mets lefty was recommended to the snack Pickled Onion Monster Mush.

Not long after, out on the field, I joked to Alonso that he asked the best questions of the press conference and to stop messing with my job and he laughed and was about to answer, when he was pulled away by two former West Ham footballers, who Alonso would later throw batting practice to at London Stadium – which is usually the home of West Ham United.

And, well, you get the general idea. There was a lot of flavor added to this London Series event – or more aptly writing from here: flavour.

This is an event designed to sell the game to a larger audience. It is a chance for players to sneak in as close to a summer vacation as they get – for example, J.D. Martinez, who was part of the initial Red Sox-Yankees London Series in 2019, led a group of Mets to watch the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. And it is a mixing of cultures as press conferences seemed to center as much on cricket as anything, notably MLB players being congratulated for the shocking U.S. victory Thursday over Pakistan in the T20 World Cup.

But it is built around regular-season games between the Phillies and Mets on Saturday and Sunday. This ultimately is a business trip and the Mets are amid the business for the next 5-6 weeks of trying to play well enough to convince Steve Cohen and David Stearns to be buyers in the days leading up to the July 30 trade deadline.

“We are in a different county, but we are playing a good team and the games count,” Carlos Mendoza said.

In the real baseball world, the Mets feel as distant from the Phillies as New York to London – 16 1/2 games back of the NL’s best club. Yet at 27-35 and coming off a three-game sweep in the American capital before visiting the capital of the United Kingdom, the Mets went into their workout day just three out of the last wild card and with team officials still insisting baseball operations has not pivoted one way or the other yet for the trade deadline.

Instead, the attempts to upgrade internally continue. Brett Baty was brought across the pond to serve as the 27th man and told reporters that part of his Triple-A stay will be to play some second base. That is another shot at Jeff McNeil, who did not start any of the games against the Nationals and is expected to sit for a fourth straight with Philadelphia starting lefty Ranger Suarez on Saturday before he is likely back Sunday against former teammate Taijuan Walker. McNeil has yet to share public thoughts on his benching as he proved as capable of dodging reporters in Europe as back home.

Mendoza said Francisco Alvarez returned to Venezuela for a personal matter and if he is not able to return in time to play again on his rehab Sunday, he will not play until Tuesday and that will slow his calendar somewhat to rejoin the Mets. Thus, the battle between Tomas Nido and Luis Torrens for who sticks as Alvarez’s ultimate backup persists.

Can the Mets get Edwin Diaz back in the right form? Can they get Kodai Senga back at all?

The Phillies lack such problems. The league, for example, is going to have difficulty limiting the number of Philadelphia All-Stars with so many deserving while figuring out which person should rep the Mets. The Mets’ offense has perked up of late, but the Phillies are averaging an NL-best 5.1 runs per game, though both teams should not expect the offensive orgy of 2019.

Mendoza, Martinez, Adam Ottavino and Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski were involved in the first London Series in which the Yankees swept two from the Red Sox in which 50 runs were scored in two games on 65 hits and 22 walks. In a stadium that took 18 days for MLB to transform, the alleys are five feet deeper than in 2019, center field seven feet deeper and the turf less pinball fast than it was then. There remains wide gulleys of foul territory and all the lack of familiarity that is part of a trip off MLB’s beaten path, despite all the info shared, for example, about how to best conquer jet lag.

Both teams seemed to embrace the spirit around these games and the business reality that will conclude Sunday, when the field will begin disassembly. The Foo Fighters are due to play here in two weeks. I wonder if Dave Grohl will be as open to discuss and partake in mushy peas as Alonso was.