As Michael Conforto separated himself from his teammates on the center field grass on Friday night, he came away from the scrum without his jersey intact.
Pete Alonso had ripped it off.
"Yeah, I was happy, I didn't know what to do, so I just ripped his jersey off," Alonso said.
"When guys' shirts come off, it's probably a pretty good day," Mickey Callaway said. "So that was a good one."
Pete Alonso ripping Michael Conforto's jersey off is the content we all deserve #LFGM pic.twitter.com/qLSqdtmskX
- SNY (@SNYtv) August 10, 2019
'A good one' may be the understatement of the year as far as the Mets are concerned. On two different occasions, the Mets fell behind the Nationals by three runs on Friday, first at 3-0 and then late in the game at 6-3.
But with so much on the line in terms of the Wild Card race, the Mets never gave up. Alonso and JD Davis went back-to-back in the fourth inning to tie the game 3-3. Then, again down by three runs in the nine, the Mets put their first two runners on for Todd Frazier, who slammed a three-run homer down the left-field line to tie the game again.
"It was fair the whole time," Callaway said after the game. "I was right there kind of in line with it. I knew it was fair the whole time. I watched it for about 10 feet off the bat and turned around and I think I was slapping high-fives with (Phil Regan)."
After tying the game, the Mets once again put two runners on base, setting the stage for Conforto, who lined a ball over Adam Eaton's head in right field, scoring the improbable game-winning run, giving the Mets a 7-6 win.
From start to finish, Citi Field was electric, something that both the players and the manager could feel.
"That was definitely playoff-type atmosphere tonight, and the young guys stepped up and did a great job," Callaway said.
"There's no doubt about it, we don't win this game tonight if it isn't for our fans. That was unbelievable. And they stuck around. We were down three in the ninth and the stadium was still packed. They were still believing, and our players did the job. So that was fantastic."
"It was like magic out there. There's no other way to describe it," added Alonso. "The fans packed this place out. It was rocking, so all of us players in the locker room and everybody on the staff, we really appreciate it because Citi Field was so electric. Thank you to all the fans who came out. Hopefully you guys can come out tomorrow and create that same type of atmosphere, because that's so difficult for opposing teams to come into and have to overcome that adversity, so for us that's much appreciated.
"For me, I was having a ball out there. There's nothing like it. I don't know, it's like pure happiness and joy, and all of us guys, we love it. We love that New York has our back."
The Mets have now won 14 of their last 15 games, and according to Elias Sports, the Mets had been 0-187 when trailing by three runs or more in the ninth inning or later, dating back to September 2015.
On a run that's been filled with memorable performances, Friday's win is at the top of the list.
"It's outstanding," Callaway said. "I think that they believe in something and they're going after it."