– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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NEW YORK — It had to be Francisco Lindor. The man brought in at the highest price ever for a New York Met. The player who was the lightning rod for fans’ ire when disappointing seasons were stacked on top of heart-rendering ends to once-promising campaigns. The man who once “celebrated” his team’s accomplishments with a thumbs-down gesture as a rebuke to supporters who had started to lose faith.
Those reasons are just a tip of the iceberg in explaining why there were so many tears on Thursday night, players and fans alike. And it had to be Francisco Lindor to be the man who caused the waterworks — and the rapturous, unfettered glee — to flow freely, once his free-flowing swing gave New York the knockout blow it had so desperately looked for and finally got.
Lindor lined a grand slam into right-center field in the sixth inning to life the New York Mets to a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 4’s National League Division Series inside Citi Field, giving the Mets the 3-1 series victory. Edwin Díaz closed out the ninth inning by striking out Kyle Schwarber, who represented the tying run, as New York advanced to its first National League Championship Series since reaching the World Series in 2015.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Wednesday evening’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Roberto Carlo. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 31 pictures in total.
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