Althouse: A Little League home run... for the Mets.

July 8, 2026

A Little League home run... for the Mets.

I promise no amount of explaining will prepare you for how bad this play is pic.twitter.com/45XcHCMvyL
— Ben Verlander (@BenVerlander) July 8, 2026

34 comments:

Tina Trent said...: Well, if that's the high point of my season, well done.; 7/8/26, 6:15 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: Most excitement for Mets’ fans this year. At least the ball was in play in this era of strikeouts galore. Brewers are going nuts. DH sweep in St. Louis. Cubs’ entire rotation on the IL most of the season, but they are still in the chase. BAs are pathetic this year. Entire lineups of .240 hitters. That once earned you a trip back to AAA. MLB needs to limit number of pitchers allowed per nine inning game to 2 or 3.; 7/8/26, 6:16 AM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: The Royals beat the Mets in this game 16 to 12. Go Royals!; 7/8/26, 6:17 AM
Iman said...: KC: The Toddlers of Summer.; 7/8/26, 6:19 AM
Steve said...: The Amazin Avenue recap writer described that as the most Metsian play ever by a non-Mets team. The following anecedote is from the early days of the franchise, which was so long ago you could call a newsroom and get a reporter or editor.
"Sports:
"How did the Mets do today?"
"They scored 19 runs."
"Did they win?"
The Mets are now 200-2 when they score 12 or more runs.; 7/8/26, 6:24 AM
Quaestor said...: That is why I love baseball.; 7/8/26, 6:24 AM
Iman said...: Laughin’ at Kansas City
Kansas City, buncha bums
Laughin’ at Kansas City
Kansas City, buncha bums
They got some shitty baseball players there
And I'm searchin’ for a pun; 7/8/26, 6:27 AM
Iman said...: h/t Wilbur Harrison; 7/8/26, 6:27 AM
Not an oldster. said...: America!
The white ladies love it...; 7/8/26, 6:35 AM
tim maguire said...: You’d think a 3 run lead would put you in a pretty good position, but when you give ip 16 runs, it doesn’t accomplish much at all.; 7/8/26, 6:45 AM
Wilbur said...: Ha, that reminds me of 10 year-old Wilbur playing in a Little League All star game. For some insane reason the game was played in our local minor league stadium, so the picher's rubber and bases were all adjusted accordingly. I remember going out in the first inning to my position of catcher, turning around and looking at the backstop. It looked 100 yards away, so I swallowed hard and silently vowed not to let a ball get past me.

Hitting seventh, I came to bat in the second inning and laid down a bunt down the third base line. Upon approaching first base, I saw the throw to the first baseman skip past me and shoot down the right field line. I easily circled the bases for our first run. Truth is, I probably could've circled the bases twice, the field was so oversized for us kids.

We still got our asses kicked.; 7/8/26, 7:04 AM
Money Manger said...: Major League Baseball needs to adopt a system of promotion and relegation, like English soccer.; 7/8/26, 7:08 AM
Leland said...: So appropriate for NY, the Mets didn’t earn those runs.; 7/8/26, 7:28 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Baseball is in trouble.; 7/8/26, 7:34 AM
Peachy+2 said...: bonkers; 7/8/26, 7:38 AM
Known Unknown said...: I would gladly take this buffoonery if my team could score anywhere close to 16 runs in one game.; 7/8/26, 8:03 AM
Big Mike said...: As I watched that clip I kept hearing my son’s Little League coach constantly reminding the kids to “Make a good throw.” Over and over. Take the extra fraction of a second to settle your base and lock eyes onto your target.; 7/8/26, 8:15 AM
Tacitus said...: If this were Japanese baseball there would be an infield coach for the defending team planning ritual suicide in the dugout.; 7/8/26, 8:55 AM
Curious George said...: "Leland said...
So appropriate for NY, the Mets didn’t earn those runs."

Usually it's the Mets kicking it around. Worst defense in baseball. They had six errors and gave up five unearned runs in a 10-5 loss to the Cubs a few weeks ago.

Baseball is weird. The Cubs beat the Padres 23-3 on July 1st, then lost to the Cardinals 17-1 the next day.; 7/8/26, 8:57 AM
Michael said...: Our Little League field was being upgraded, of which the rickety wooden outfield fence being replace by chain link. Tore out the old fence, but the volunteers didn't get the new one installed for our game. So we played with an open outfield, no fence. Scott Weaver drilled a liner to the gap, and since there'd been no rain for three weeks the ground was rock hard. That ball rolled and rolled. Scott circled the bases before the right fielder caught up to the ball.; 7/8/26, 8:59 AM
Joe Bar said...: That was epic! And I don't follow baseball.; 7/8/26, 9:19 AM
gspencer said...: One time manager of the Mets, Casey Stengel, said,

"Been in this game one-hundred years, but I see new ways to lose 'em I never knew existed before."

In his first year as manager of the Mets, 1962, his record was 40-160.

More deep thoughts from CS,

"Can't anybody here play this game?"

"Don't cut my throat, I may want to do that later myself."

"Don't drink in the hotel bar, that's where I do my drinking."; 7/8/26, 9:25 AM
FredSays said...: A play so often practiced in Little League finally makes it to ‘the show’.; 7/8/26, 10:04 AM
Roger Sweeny said...: I made all four bases the same way playing kickball in elementary school, and was known ever after as "Home Run Harry".; 7/8/26, 10:33 AM
Lazarus said...: It looks like it would be time for Kansas City to be "relegated" if baseball did that.

I guess baseball does provide an excuse for sitting around for a few hours chatting and drinking beer. One would have to be even more drunk to sit through a soccer match.; 7/8/26, 10:59 AM
jj121957 said...: Heliot Ramos of my Giants, who are battling with the Mets and Rockies for the National League's worse team title, had a little league home run against the Blue Jays on Monday. You celebrate 'em any way you can get 'em.; 7/8/26, 11:53 AM
Shoeless Joe said...: I know this is a “swinging” bunt rather than an actual bunt, but it shows the advantage of forcing pitchers to make this kind of play. They’re often very poor fielders who wheel around and throw in a hurry, occasionally firing the ball past first base into right field. A bad bunt is just an easy out. A good bunt is usually a single, or even two bases if the pitcher botches the play. This time it was a HR.; 7/8/26, 11:57 AM
Smilin' Jack said...: Would be fun to be a fly on the wall of either locker room after this game. I imagine the managers will have some emphatically colorful things to say.; 7/8/26, 12:11 PM
Rory said...: Most of my defensive value in softball consisted of corralling balls that were being thrown around, then walking over and handing them to the pitcher.; 7/8/26, 1:13 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: YouTube: Field of lapses; 7/8/26, 1:43 PM
mccullough said...: Shouting Thomas, batting average is a worthless stat nowadays. It’s about on base percentage & slugging.

As for strikeouts, they are just another out. What is bad is grounding into a double play. That’s two outs in one swing.

Junior Caminero is a very good young hitter for the Rays. But he led the league last year in grounding into double plays and is leading the league again so far this year with 16. Much better to strike out 16 more times and make 16 outs instead of 32.; 7/8/26, 2:51 PM
Steve said...: mccollugh: Hall of Famer Joe Torre once grounded into five double plays in one game. He blamed the guy who kept getting on base ahead of him.; 7/8/26, 3:40 PM
EAB said...: All I could think was how many times I’d have to watch it to score it properly.; 7/8/26, 4:57 PM
EAB said...: Just to make sure I assigned errors properly.; 7/8/26, 5:34 PM

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