Carlos Mendoza shows managerial fitness with instinctive approach to Jose Quintana in Mets' comeback win over Cardinals

Mark Vientos was the obvious feel-good story from the Mets' wild win over the St. Louis Cardinals at Citi Field on Sunday, hitting an 11th-inning walk-off home run on his second day back in the big leagues -- only about a month after the J.D. Martinez signing knocked him out of his looming DH role.

Yet I’d make the case that there was a far more significant big-picture moment for the Mets as they staved off a three-game sweep by the Cardinals with the 4-2 win.

That is: Carlos Mendoza made a decision that went against what his analytics plan was telling him with the game on the line in the eighth inning. He instead trusted what he saw and heard on the mound from Jose Quintana, who was pitching a brilliant game.

In short, the rookie manager channeled Joe Torre in the 1996 World Series when he famously went to the mound, looked David Cone in the eye and demanded that he tell him the truth about whether he had anything left.

Never mind that Cone later said -- only half-jokingly -- that he lied. The point is that Torre trusted him to get one more out in what proved to be turning point in the Yankees winning the World Series.

It feels relevant because it practically seems that long since we've seen that managing-with-your-gut style in today's game, when so many bullpen moves are mapped out ahead of time with input from the front office.

It matters because it may say a lot about Mendoza and his willingness to manage at least partly with his instincts at times -- trust what he sees rather than be a robot whose every move is dictated by the numbers.

You don't see it much anymore because it's a lot easier to explain a failed move to reporters -- and your GM, as well -- if you play everything by the book in this analytics era.

In this case, however, there was Mendoza -- with two outs in the eighth inning of a 1-1 game -- going to the mound to make the obvious matchup move and bring in Adam Ottavino to face a tough right-handed hitter, Willson Contreras.

Only to be convinced otherwise.

"As I left the dugout, I was pretty sure I was going to go to Adam," Mendoza said afterward. "But with the way Jose was throwing the ball, and seeing the conviction on his face and in his voice … he said, 'I'm good, give it to me.' I was like, 'All right, it's your hitter.'"

Then Mendoza smiled.

"I'm not going to lie," he said. "I didn't like the matchup (of Quintana against Contreras). But when somebody like that is pitching a hell of a game, it's the relationship. I've talked to a lot of these guys about having trust in them, and sometimes I have to show them.

"There are going going to be times when I'm going to be aggressive and make the move, but there are also going to be times like today when I say, 'I'll give you a hitter. Go get him.'"

On this day, his trust paid off as Quintana finished off his eight-inning gem by striking out Contreras swinging. And surely such strategy will backfire occasionally as well. But the larger point is that Mendoza had the confidence to make such a decision, as well as what that could mean in the Mets' clubhouse.

After all, no one ever called Torre the best dugout strategist in baseball. But nobody was better at getting players to buy in and put the team ahead of the individual than he was during those Yankee championship years.

Mendoza, obviously, is just getting started. But he has shown enough already to be an intriguing figure, making good on some of the high praise coming from Yankee people when the Mets hired him.

For a rookie manager in New York, he has a natural presence and is secure enough that he doesn't deflect questions about strategy and personnel -- even when things go wrong.

He laughed Sunday when I asked him if he's got some old-school blood in him, and said, "Old school, new school -- it's all school, right? I went against the matchup, and I'm glad it worked out today."

In the end, the Mets won a game that they very much needed mostly because Harrison Bader delivered in as clutch a moment as possible, singling home the tying run with two outs in the 11th to set the stage for Vientos.

His home run off lefty Matthew Liberatore enabled the Mets to survive on a day where they went 1-for-19 with runners in scoring position.

As such, it had a storybook feel to it: Vientos had been called up Saturday only because Starling Marte went on the bereavement list. And though Vientos said all the right things about the disappointment of having the DH spot taken away from him at the last minute, his frenzy of emotion when the ball went over the fence told you how much satisfaction the game-winner gave him.

"I'm happy where I am right now," he said. "That's what matters."

Chances are that Vientos will be sent back to the minors when Marte returns, though Mendoza made a point of smiling and saying, "I'm pretty sure he'll be in the lineup tomorrow (Monday against the Chicago Cubs)."

Even that comment resonated, evidence of someone who has a feel for the moment and how it could play in the clubhouse. It was only last year that Vientos hit a similarly important home run after being called up from the minors, only to find himself on the bench the next day in favor of Daniel Vogelbach.

Whether that was Billy Eppler's call or Buck Showalter's, it spoke to a disconnect that may or may not have contributed to the apparent lack of chemistry last season.

Meanwhile, this 2024 team obviously has plenty of flaws. But the late-inning fight has been its identity since the 0-5 start, and Sunday offered more reason to think that maybe some of that comes from the trust being formed between the new manager and his players.