WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. _ To conclude their 11-game, 10-day, five-city east coast odyssey of a road trip, the Mets visited a youth baseball mecca on Sunday.
The Mets beat the Phillies, 8-2, but in a week or a year or 10, they probably won't remember the whats or the hows of the final score. They will remember the hoopla surrounding the special occasion, the Little League Classic, and their afternoon visit to the Little League World Series.
For most of the Mets, this trip was their first to the birthplace of Little League. For Todd Frazier and Michael Conforto, it was a return to their old stomping grounds.
"To me, this is the purest form of baseball," said Conforto, who played in the 2004 LLWS with his Redmond, Wash., team. "You go back to that time when it was just playing baseball with your buddies. That's why I say it's the purest form of the sport, because it's all about winning games, it's all about leaving it all out there. At the end of the day, you're just playing a game with your buddies."
The Mets and Phillies' unusual locale was a part of Major League Baseball's wider effort to grow the game among younger audiences, and the big leaguers spending time with Little Leaguers was the theme of the day.
After arriving at Williamsport Regional Airport (where they were greeted by youths) and meandering through the sprawling Little League complex (where they were greeted by more youths), the Mets found themselves in a bit of a role reversal: sitting in the stands, watching the kids play.
Frazier _ as a star pitcher/shortstop for the LLWS-winning Toms River, N.J., team in 1998 _ was the most in-demand man of the day. Surrounded by Toms River coaches and teammates celebrating the 20th anniversary of their championship, Frazier threw out the first pitch before one of the Little League games. On the receiving end? Alfred "Big Al" Delia, a 12-year-old from New Jersey who became a viral sensation when he declared on an ESPN broadcast this month: "I hit dingers."
When Delia met Frazier, Conforto, Brandon Nimmo, Wilmer Flores and Steve Matz _ who were just as excited to meet him _ he made them huddle up and advised: "Boys, hit some taters tonight." Big laughs ensued.
The LLWS visit was quite the nostalgia trip for Frazier.
"It's what kickstarted me to being the baseball player I am today. Being back on that field, the memories got brought back up," Frazier said. "I felt like we were about to go in the dugout again today and play for a championship, so it was really cool."
Said Conforto: "Everybody wants that title. Todd ended up winning it. I remember being crushed that we didn't win it."
As for the actual game, well, that went quite smoothly for the Mets (54-69), who find themselves riding something close to a hot streak: eight wins in their past 12 games.
They played at Bowman Field _ home of the Williamsport Crosscutters, the Phillies' short-season A affiliate _ in from of a capacity crowd of about 2,500, the stands filled almost exclusively with Little League World Series athletes, coaches, and parents. Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Zack Wheeler and Matz spent part of the game in the stands.
Jason Vargas took a shutout into the sixth, but stumbled to a final line of 51/3 innings and two earned runs. He struck out three and walked none. Carlos Santana reached him for a two-run home run in the sixth. Vargas' 99 pitches were his most in one outing in more a year.
Amed Rosario went 3-for-5 with three RBIs. Jeff McNeil (2-for-5, two RBIs), Kevin Plawecki (2-for-3, three runs) and Jose Bautista (2-for-4, two runs) also had big games in a well-rounded offensive effort for the Mets.
