Meredith Scudder kisses husband Scottie Scheffler following his 2022 Masters win on April 10, 2022Getty Images
Scottie Scheffler celebrated his first-ever Masters win on Sunday with wife Meredith Scudder by his side.
The 25-year-old golfer clinched the title of 2022 Masters champion at Augusta National over the weekend after shooting 1-under for a 71 in Sunday’s final round, finishing at 10-under for the tournament.
Scudder, who has been married to Scheffler since 2020, embraced her husband on the course following the win, with the couple sharing a kiss.
The couple embraces one another on the course at Augusta National on April 10, 2022Getty ImagesScottie Scheffler and wife Meredith Scudder hug after his 2022 Masters win on April 10, 2022Getty ImagesScottie Scheffler celebrates his 2022 Masters win on April 10, 2022Getty Images
Leading up to the opening round of this year’s Masters, Scudder joined Scheffler for the annual Par 3 contest on Wednesday, when the loved ones of golfers act as their caddies.
“First timers at the Par 3 & it definitely lived up to the hype. Mere is still working on cleaning the grooves…,” Scheffler quipped on Instagram.
Scudder sported caddie attire for the outing as Scheffler wrapped an arm around his favorite fan.
Scottie Scheffler with wife Meredith Scudder during the Par 3 contest on Wednesday, April 6, 2022, at Augusta NationalGetty ImagesScottie Scheffler and wife Meredith Scudder following his World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play win on March 27, 2022, in Austin, TexasGetty Images
Earlier this year, Scudder made separate appearances on the course, celebrating Scheffler’s win at the WM Phoenix Open in February, as well as last month’s Arnold Palmer Invitational and the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play, respectively.
Scheffler is currently ranked the world’s top golfer and, as of Sunday, now has four PGA Tour victories to his name. The Masters victory was his first major championship.
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Golf is supposed to be the most maddening game around, and yet Scottie Scheffler made it look absurdly easy. He did not seem any more stressed winning the Masters than he did hitting balls in his New Jersey backyard as a 5-year-old, launching them over his house and toward a charmed future as the best player on the planet.
Yes, while carrying a five-stroke lead, he did turn the 18th green Sunday into a back-and-forth comedy worthy of his childhood days spent at the Rockland County minigolf and range above the Hudson River. He had grinded so hard and for so long over 71 ¹/₂ exhausting holes on a brutal course, he decided to ease up, break that steel grip on his concentration, and have some fun. Scheffler grabbed his mouth in mock horror after his third missed putt, inspiring the gallery to rise and cheer for him and successfully will that fourth putt for double bogey into the cup.
But man, did the kid ever earn it.
“I’ll give myself a free pass on that one,” Scheffler said while wearing the green jacket.
He has a free pass to Augusta National forever now, as its first Jersey Boy champ.
As it turned out, the road to a 10-under finish and a three-stroke victory over Rory McIlroy wasn’t as easy as it seemed. Saturday night, Scheffler watched some Season 4 reruns of his favorite show, “The Office,” after spilling his dinner in the car on the ride home, much to the delight of his wife, Meredith. The following morning, however, was an entirely different story. That’s when the weight of holding the Masters lead since Friday came crashing down upon him.
Scottie Scheffler poses with the Masters trophy. Getty Images
“I cried like a baby this morning,” Scheffler said Sunday night. “I was so stressed out. I didn’t know what to do.”
He had won three PGA Tour events over the last two months, and he was already a certified Ryder Cup hero, and yet for the first time in his career Scheffler broke down before a final round. He told Meredith that he wasn’t ready for the challenge, that he felt overwhelmed. She gave her spouse a pep talk, made him a big breakfast, and Scottie calmed down on arrival at the office.
“This golf course and this tournament is just different,” Scheffler explained.
He conquered it anyway, showing the public no fear in the process. Seventeen years to the day after Tiger Woods sank his magical, mystery chip-in at the 16th to win his fourth green jacket, Scheffler sank his own at the third hole to win his first while spending the week wearing Tiger’s shirts and shoes and swinging Tiger’s irons. Cameron Smith, a sturdy Players Championship winner from Australia, had turned a three-stroke deficit into a one-stroke deficit over the first two holes and had appeared to squeeze the leader hard.
Scottie Scheffler on the 18th green. REUTERS
The chip-in defined the 25-year-old Scheffler as a study in big-game poise.
When victory was assured, Scheffler’s father, Scott, started summoning the memories from his son’s youth — hitting balls in the snow on the 9W range, and later in the frigid darkness at the nine-hole Orchard Hills course at Bergen Community College. Scott would stand near a flagstick with a flashlight, near his daughters, and Scottie would fire some line drives right at them. “He would yell at us when he hit it,” Scott said. “He would hit the girls.”
The course manager kicked off the Schefflers more than once, at least until Scott persuaded the man to take measure of his son’s game. “Then he didn’t bother us anymore,” Scott said. The father learned to move away from the flag with his flashlight as his son took aim.
Scottie Scheffler sinks his final put as he wins the Masters. EPA
What a special New Jersey/New York journey it’s been. Born in Ridgewood, N.J., Scottie was 4 when he first started demanding that his father take him to the old driving range on 9W. A Navy veteran and pro named George Kopac ran the range, and couldn’t believe the power and precision of young Scottie’s swing. On angry winter days, Kopac would leave out a Super Jumbo size bucket for the boy behind the shed, and make sure one rubber tee and a turf mat were cleared of snow.
The routine was simple: Scottie pounded balls for hours in an otherwise closed-down range, and Kopac family members retrieved them after the snow melted. So of course, a month after George’s death at 88, all the Kopacs were glued to their TVs Sunday in Rockland.
“I wish my dad was here to see what a wonderful man Scottie has become,” Kathy Kopac texted The Post. “Many tears of happiness for Scottie were shed today. I know my father is up there saying, ‘I knew he would make it.’ ”
Scottie made it because his father, Scott, was a dedicated stay-at-home dad while his mother worked tirelessly as an executive in a Manhattan law firm, and then as a law firm COO in Dallas. The son of a car salesman, Scott grew up a public-course kid in a town (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.) defined by its private-course standard of living. “We were the dead-end kids,” Scott said. He was a rough-and-tumble basketball player at fabled St. Cecilia High School, once home to a hoops and football coach by the name of Vince Lombardi. He raised a kid tough enough to win golf’s Super Bowl.
“He’s just a nice young kid born in New Jersey and raised in Texas, and he’s got a little bit of both, which is wonderful,” Scott said of his boy. “I guess he belongs to the world now. He’s public now, which is a little scary. But he’ll represent himself well.”
The Knicks finished their dismal season with a win, a sellout crowd and another thrilling offensive, career-high explosion by Obi Toppin.
After scoring 35 points Friday in Washington, the 2020 lottery pick rang up 42 points as the Knicks took out the playoff-bound Raptors, 105-94, before 19,812 at the Garden.
Meanwhile, the Knicks other 2020 first-rounder, Immanuel Quickley, starting in place of injured RJ Barrett, pumped in 34 points and had nine rebounds.
Obi Toppin scored a career-high 42 points. Jason SzenesImmanuel Quickley drives to the basket during the Knicks’ win over the Raptors. Jason Szenes
With 1:05 left, Toppin soared over the 40-point mark with three free throws after he got fouled on a corner 3 as the Garden fans chanted the familiar “O-BI.” The fans chanted his name to the final buzzer.
The Knicks’ final record stands at 37-45 — going 12-7 in their last 19 games but falling well short of the postseason. Toronto, which rested their top two players in Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet, head to the playoffs as the East’s fifth seed.
The Knicks go home but with hope Toppin has turned a corner as he shot 16 of 28 — draining 6 of 14 3-pointers and flushing an array of dunk-contest jams.
Starting for Julius Randle across the final five games, Toppin finished out the season scoring 20, 20, 19, 35 and 42. Randle shut it down after the Knicks were bounced from contention.
AUGUSTA, Ga. — The score was never going to matter.
This Masters, the 24th of Tiger Woods’ career, was never going to be about his results or where he would finish, but that he could finish.
That Woods — fewer than 14 months removed from his frightening one-car wreck outside of Los Angeles that he said nearly caused his right leg to be amputated — simply started this week’s Masters was astonishing in and of itself.
The scene shortly after 3 p.m. Sunday as Woods completed his final round was reminiscent of the scene from the same spot in front of the Augusta National clubhouse in 2019 when he won his fifth green jacket — minus the bedlam.
There was a human tunnel formed between the 18th green and the clubhouse, and at the end of it stood his two kids, Charlie and Sam, his girlfriend, Erica Herman, his mother, Tida, and his closest confidant, Rob McNamara.
This was a victory for Woods. It didn’t count as his 83rd career win or his 16th major championship. But what he did at this Masters was at least as profound a victory for Woods as perhaps any of his wins in the record books.
Tiger Woods tips his cap to spectators on the 18th green.Mike Segar/Reuters
“The fact that he played four rounds in a row on this golf course … I don’t want to use the word ‘amazing,’ but with all he’s been through it’s borderline amazing,’’ Woods’ caddie Joe LaCava told The Post in a quiet moment as he loaded the courtesy car in the champions parking lot in front of the clubhouse.
That the 46-year-old Woods was able to walk four rounds at Augusta, one of the hilliest golf courses in the country, it opened a door to his playing future — a future few thought he’d have after the crash.
A future that, he told Sky Sports after his round Sunday, includes playing in the British Open at St. Andrews in July and possibly even the PGA Championship next month at Southern Hills.
LaCava, by nature a very pragmatic and conservative man, said “the door is ajar’’ for more tournament golf for Woods.
“There’s light at the end of the tunnel that it may be able to happen — certainly on a part-time kind of situation,’’ LaCava said. “The fact that he got through around here makes you think maybe walk pretty much any other golf course.’’
Tiger Woods shakes hands with caddie Joe LaCava.Mike Segar/Reuters
LaCava’s first goal for the week: “I told people, ‘Let’s get to the top of the first hill on the first day and go from there.
“It’s great he did four days in a row, but I want to know how he is Friday, Saturday, a week from now. Then I’ll say, ‘OK, maybe the door’s further open.’ ’’
Woods said he “had the same questions’’ everyone else had about whether he’d be able to return to tournament golf.
“I don’t think words can really describe that, given where I was a little over a year ago and what my prospects were at that time, to end up here and be able to play in all four rounds,’’ he said. “Even a month ago, I didn’t know if I could pull this off. I think it was a positive, and I’ve got some work to do and looking forward to it.’’
The next box to check for Woods is the PGA at Southern Hills, where he won in 2007.
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to play at Southern Hills or not, but I am looking forward to St. Andrews,’’ Woods told Sky Sports. “That is something that is near and dear to my heart. You know, I’ve won two Opens there, it’s the home of golf, it’s my favorite golf course in the world. I will be there for that one.
Tiger Woods confirms that he WILL play at The Open in July, but is unsure if he’ll take part in the PGA Championship in May ⛳ pic.twitter.com/jabpP9XxOq
“Anything in between that, I don’t know. I will try, there’s no doubt. This week, I will try to get ready for Southern Hills, and we’ll see what this body is able to do.”
LaCava conceded that the opening-round 71 proved to be “a little bit of a tease.’’
“When you shoot 71 on the first day in those kinds of conditions, you start to get your hopes up, like, ‘Can this actually happen? Can we contend this week?’ ’’ he said.
When Woods walked to the clubhouse for scoring and when he stepped onto a riser to speak to reporters after the round, he moved awkwardly and winced in pain.
“I think it caught up to him in the end, of course,’’ LaCava said. “Four days around this track — not to mention the weather we had? So yeah, I think it just wore on him.’’
For the record, Woods shot 78 on Sunday, same score as he shot Saturday after shooting 71-74 in his first two rounds. He finished 47th out of the 52 players who made the cut.
No matter.
“Score always counts with this guy,’’ LaCava said. “But at the end of the day, it wasn’t as important maybe as always.’’
Masters Sunday lived up to expectations with spectacular performances from each of the final two pairings, but no one could overcome world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler’s dominant play as he secured his first green jacket.
Scheffler, 25, shot 1-under for a 71 in the final round and finished 10-under for the tournament at Augusta National on Sunday, the culmination of four strong rounds for the American. Scheffler shot a 69 in the first round, 67 in the second and 71 in the third. It was Scheffler first victory at a major championship.
Fans look on a Scottie Scheffler hits his second shot on the 3rd hole.APScottie SchefflerEPA
Rory McIlroy, who hit a stunning bunker shot on the 18th hole to finish with a 64 in the final round — one shot shy of the tournament record — finished second at 7-under.
Cameron Smith, who was in the final pairing with Scheffler, finished at 5-under and tied for third with Shane Lowry after a rocky 1-over final round with a double bogey on 12 as the lowlight for the Australian.
Everything remains up in the air for the Nets. The coveted seventh spot in the play-in tournament. Falling out of the top two seeds. Dropping all the way down to ninth.
It all comes down to one simple thing: Beat the dreadful Pacers on Sunday afternoon at Barclays Center. Otherwise, it can get tricky for coach Steve Nash’s team.
It could start on the road Tuesday. It may have to wait until Wednesday, when the Nets would have to win two games to advance to the main draw of the playoffs. That scenario would only be possible if the Cavaliers (at home for the Bucks) and Hornets (at home against the Wizards) win on Sunday and the Hawks lose (on the road against the Rockets). That would mean the Nets, as the ninth seed, hosting the 10th-seeded Hawks in an elimination game.
But if Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Co. find a way to prevail against the Pacers, losers of nine straight games and owners of an ugly 25-56 record, they won’t have to worry about that unwanted possibility.
“It feels good to be in this position. Hard fought and just want to take it one day at a time and get prepared for Indiana coming Sunday and have some good results there, get better that day and be ready for Tuesday,” Irving said. “So it feels good like you said with all the complications, stuff like that. It’s the past, now we just control what we can control and get ready to hoop.”
The Kevin Durant- and Kyrie Irving-led Nets can clinch the No. 7 spot with a win over the porous Pacers in their regular-season finale.Getty Images
Who the Nets will play should they win on Sunday isn’t certain. It could be the Cavaliers or the Hawks on Tuesday, depending on how both teams fare on Sunday. That’s not as important as taking care of business, however. The Nets won both regular-season series’ against the Cavaliers and Hawks, taking a combined five of seven against the two playoff contenders. They won all three games at home against the two teams.
“Every game that we play, we feel like it’s a must-win. We want to give our best effort,” Irving said. “But obviously with this play-in tournament, this playoff idea or play-in idea, you know it’s been a little bit more pressure, but that’s part of being in the NBA and you know preparing daily for these types of moments.”
The Nets (43-38) feel like they are trending in the right direction at the right time, having won three straight entering the final day of the regular season. They overwhelmed the Cavaliers late on Friday night, rallied from a 20-point deficit to knock off the Knicks at the Garden two days earlier and their last three losses are all by single digits against playoff teams. They have set themselves up for the best possible spot in the play-in tournament. Only one thing is left to do to make it official.
“We win on Sunday, we [play] again on Tuesday [at home],” Bruce Brown said. “We just have to lock in and take care of the Pacers.”
WASHINGTON — Through a largely successful rookie season in 2021, Tylor Megill totaled 1,554 pitches.
None of them could match the top velocity of his 2022 debut.
In his first start of the season, the second-year Mets starter threw seven pitches faster than the hardest of his prior season. He had topped out at 97.6 mph in 2021. On Thursday, his fastball averaged 96.2 mph and buzzed 99.1 mph when he needed to reach back, blazing his way into a potentially important role on the team.
When camp opened, Megill represented rotation depth, thrown into the same just-in-case bucket as David Peterson. With Jacob deGrom out possibly until June and the back of the Mets’ rotation filled with questions — it is hard to predict what Taijuan Walker and Carlos Carrasco can give — Megill’s suddenly high-octane arm may be among the most important on a staff that includes Max Scherzer.
If last year — in which he pitched to a 4.52 ERA in 89 ²/₃ innings, a solid option who tired as the season went on — was Megill announcing himself, he used a trumpet during the Mets’ Opening Night win at Nationals Park.
Tylor MegillCorey Sipkin
“That was the best stuff that I’ve seen from him,” said James McCann, who caught Megill often last season and in Game 1. “I know he put a lot of work in this offseason, but everything — I mean everything — was good [Thursday] night.
“That’s some of the best sliders I’ve seen from him. Changeup was good. Fastball was good, location was good. I mean, it was really good.”
Everything looked different from Megill, even beyond the velocity. His slider had more bite: Washington batters swung at eight and whiffed five times. He showed a renewed confidence in his changeup, which he used on a 2-0 count to Nelson Cruz with runners on the corners, an offering the slugger swung through.
“Put yourself in Nellie’s shoes,” manager Buck Showalter said before the Mets’ 7-3 win over the Nationals. “This young man just threw me a 2-0 changeup. Now what am I looking for?”
The Mets are looking for a starter to step up into a rotation that could not make it to Opening Day before issues struck, and they might have found one.
Tylor MegillAP
Megill was best in his biggest moments. Prior to the Cruz at-bat in the third inning, he wanted to pitch to, and not around, Juan Soto with two runners on. In a 2-2 count, Megill reached back and hit 97.9 mph, throwing it past perhaps baseball’s best hitter.
“He’s probably one of the more fun at-bats to pitch to,” said Megill, who took a moment to stare away from the field, toward the center-field wall, after getting his biggest out of the night.
Showalter said the reward for Megill will be another start, and the Mets figure to give him plenty of leash without a ton of options and with a ceiling that Megill propped up further.
The question will become whether Megill, who is not fully built up, can hold his upticks in velocity and stuff for 100 pitches, rather than the 68 he threw in shutting out the Nationals through five innings.
He might not need to, McCann said. If he has the heat in his arsenal when he needs it, that should be good enough to record important outs.
“I remember catching [Justin] Verlander — he’d be 92 to 94 [mph] in the first couple of innings,” McCann, a former Tiger, told The Post. “All of a sudden you’d get runners in scoring position, he’d pop in 97, 98.
“So I think it is sustainable in the sense that he doesn’t need to pitch at 98 every single pitch. But you can use what you need to use when you need to. … I think that as [Megill] matures, he’ll understand the difference between blowing it out early and not having anything late to using it when you need it.”
Megill, 26, who came out of nowhere to pitch significant innings for the Mets last season, again has returned to the team as a different pitcher.
If the stuff persists, this new pitcher could be a key, under-the-radar addition after an offseason of big Mets splashes.
LAKELAND, Fla. — Cheered by many fans who came just to see her make history, Rachel Balkovec debuted with a win Friday night as the first woman to manage the affiliate of a Major League Baseball team.
Balkovec guided the New York Yankees’ Class A Tampa Tarpons over Lakeland 9-6.
“I’ve never heard my name chanted like that,” she said. “It was so much fun. Again, I just see, it’s like I see me sitting in the stands, whatever 15, 20 years ago, and so it’s just really cool.”
In the postgame high-five line, Balkovec hugged each of her players and was given the ball from the final out. She provided some mementoes, too — her jersey and hat were headed to the baseball Hall of Fame.
Before the game, the 34-year-old Balkovec signed some autographs, drew a nice ovation when she was introduced and posed for a picture at home plate.
Then it was time to get to work. She had a game to run.
A lot of those in the crowd, however, felt the moment called for even more recognition.
Rachel BalkovecAP
So as she ran from the dugout to coach first base before the top of the second inning, a chant broke out at Joker Marchant Stadium.
“Let’s go, Rachel!”
It came from a group of girls as the Tarpons played the Flying Tigers in the Florida State League.
The Detroit Tigers Foundation — the Lakeland club is an affiliate — donated tickets to female athletes in the Polk County Schools, and 1,200 were distributed.
“They’re here in this moment and maybe they don’t even fully understand it right now, but I think obviously in the future when they get into their professional careers and maybe hit some brick walls that they’ll reflect on this moment,” Balkovec said.
“Strangely, it’s like I’ve always had a very strong vision, not specifically this maybe, but I’ve always had a strong vision for my life and understood I could make a really huge impact no matter area I’m in,” she said. “I felt that from a very young age.”
Tampa broke a 4-all tie in the seventh inning on a grand slam by Anthony Garcia. The last of Balkovec’s five pitchers for the night closed out the win.
The night ended with a scheduled fireworks show, and Balkovec signed autographs for around 20 minutes afterwards for all the remaining fans who wanted one.
“100%, I’ll never forget this game, never,” Yankees highly rated prospect and Tarpons center fielder Jasson Dominguez said.
Rachel Balkovec signs autographs for fans before winning her managerial debut for the Tampa Tarpons.AP
Earlier in the day, Balkovec spoke at the Yankees’ complex at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa about her journey. Her parents were in attendance as she talked to reporters.
“It’s been 10 years of just working to this point,” she said. “Things have evolved. I was blatantly discriminated against back then. Some people say not to say that, but it’s just part of what has happened, and I think it’s important to say because it lets you know how much change has happened.”
“So, blatant discrimination, that was 2010-ish, and now here we are 12 years later and I’m sitting here at a press conference as a manager,” she said.
Balkovec and the Tarpons made the 40-mile bus trip and arrived at the stadium around 90 minutes before game time.
Clad in Yankees’ road gray pants and blue Tarpons jersey and hat, Balkovec signed autographs along the right-field line and next to Tampa’s third-base side dugout as planes from the nearby Sun ‘n’ Fun Aerospace Expo buzzed overhead.
Rachel Balkovec talks with pitchers Juan Carela (left) and Yon Castro during her managerial debut.AP
She was cheered by the crowd during the on-field pregame introductions, and shook hands with umpires Chris Argueza and Conor McKenna and Flying Tigers manager Andrew Graham during a lengthy lineup card exchange and ground rules review.
After the foursome posed for a group photo, the Flying Tigers took the field and history was made.
Balkovec has broken several barriers on her way to the position. She was the first woman to serve as a full-time minor league strength and conditioning coach, then the first to be a full-time hitting coach in the minors with the Yankees.
The Yankees announced her hiring as a minor league manager in January.
Balkovec, a former softball catcher at Creighton and New Mexico, got her first job in professional baseball with the St. Louis Cardinals as a minor league strength and conditioning coach in 2012.
Balkovec joined the Houston Astros in 2016. She was hired as the Latin American strength and conditioning coordinator and later was the strength and conditioning coach at Double-A Corpus Christi.
She joined the Yankees organization as a minor league hitting coach in 2019.
Balkovec, who missed out on her spring training managerial debut after being hit in the face by a batted ball during a drill March 22, arrived 10 minutes early for Friday’s media session.
“Overall I feel really excited,” Balkovec said. “I feel excited because it’s like, thankfully, I’m in the best-case scenario to accept a role like this because I had a lot of these players last year and I already know them.”
“I’m excited for the night because of what’s going on but also just excited for the season because it’s like, these are my guys,” she said.
WASHINGTON — On a night that was supposed to be about Mad Max, the Mets were just plain mad.
Francisco Lindor became the fourth Mets batter in 14 innings to leave an at-bat bruised, which set off a benches-clearing skirmish in what became a 7-3 win over the Nationals Friday night in Max Scherzer’s Mets debut.
A game that had everything — including a 14-minute delay at the start because the lights did not work, a brouhaha and a 38-minute ninth-inning rain delay — left the Mets both angry and unblemished through two contests.
Before the altercation, Starling Marte lined a double that drove in Brandon Nimmo, which proved to be the game winner. Marte, who went 2-for-5 with three RBIs, also provided insurance after the altercation, when he stroked a two-run single in the sixth that turned the Mets’ anger into celebration.
What had been building for a game and a half exploded in the fifth inning. Lindor squared to bunt, but the second pitch thrown by lefty reliever Steve Cishek came at his head. It was unclear exactly where the ball hit, but Lindor hit the ground and the Mets — led by manager Buck Showalter — began pouring onto the field while pointing at Cishek.
Francisco Lindor is hit in the face with a pitch.Corey SipkinFrancisco Lindor lies on the ground after being hit in the face with a pitch. Corey SipkinBenches clear after Francisco Lindor is drilled with a pitch in the face. Corey Sipkin
Both sides pushed and shoved and both bullpens streamed onto the field, appearing to exchange far more curses than punches.
Lindor was on the ground for a portion of the festivities before he arose and got to the outskirts of the fight, appearing to grab at his mouth. He left the game with a trainer and was replaced by Luis Guillorme.
Cishek and Nationals third-base coach Gary DiSarcina, a former Mets coach, were tossed.
The Mets announced X-rays on Lindor’s jaw were negative, and the shortstop passed a concussion test.
Showalter said the Mets were unhappy Thursday when James McCann was hit twice by pitches and Pete Alonso was beaned by a pitch that grazed off his shoulder and hit his helmet flap.
The Mets have plunked one batter in the series — Scherzer hit Washington’s Josh Bell in the lower leg in the second inning Friday. The chilly night perhaps affected how well pitchers could grip the ball.
“It’s dangerous,” Showalter said before the game. “If their [catcher] sets up underneath the hitter and in, you better have command in there. I’ve done this with pitchers: If he doesn’t have command, you can’t let him pitch in there. Or you can’t let him make your club.”
None of the drama seemed to affect Scherzer, who more resembled Calm Max for the remainder of the game. After the long layoff between innings, he needed just 23 pitches to quietly sit down his former teammates over the next two innings, restoring some order to the contest.
Max Scherzer Corey Sipkin
Scherzer — who true to his reputation, was fully focused throughout, not bothering with ceremony or nostalgia or antsy ex-teammates — was not perfect, but he did not need to be.
He allowed three runs on a walk and three hits in six innings, including a two-run bomb by Bell in the fourth inning that tied the score at 3-3. Scherzer fully divorced himself from the Nationals with his first Mets start, which ended with fans who love him cheering hard against him because of the tensions.
For his part, Scherzer wanted no compassion. In good pal Juan Soto’s first at-bat, the superstar aggressively showed bunt — essentially trolling Scherzer — before he popped up to left. Soto appeared to want to say something to Scherzer before he rounded back to the dugout, but Scherzer, who won the 2019 World Series with Soto, would not look his way.
Lost in a game that became about offenses felt by the Mets was the way the Mets’ offense clicked. Yet again they came through with timely hits (5-for-14 with runners in scoring position) and big hits (five extra-base hits). Jeff McNeil homered, Eduardo Escobar launched his second double in as many games, Nimmo tripled in his season debut and Marte continued to display why the Mets gave him $78 million.
Jeff McNeil celebrates as he rounds the bases after his solo home run. Corey SipkinStarling Marte rips a two-run RBI single in the 6th inning. Corey Sipkin
Lost, too, was the fact the bullpen has allowed just one run in seven innings, and the Mets — with so many injury concerns and no Jacob deGrom — are perfect through two games.
The Mets don’t think the Nationals pitchers, though, have been as perfect.
RALEIGH, N.C. — Kyle Palmieri scored with 14.1 seconds remaining in a wild final minute to lift the New York Islanders to a 2-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night.
Ilya Sorokin needed only 19 saves to pick up the victory, though he was less than a minute away from matching a franchise record for shutouts in a season.
But Vincent Trocheck’s goal with 56.8 seconds to play tied it for Carolina.
Still, the Islanders won for the fifth time in their last six games — thanks to Palmieri’s clutch goal.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau also scored for New York, and Palmieri had an assist on that goal.
A night after clinching a playoff spot for the fourth year in a row, the Hurricanes weren’t crisp at all on their way to losing for the third time in four games. Frederik Andersen made 19 saves.
Islanders players celebrate during their win over the Hurricanes. AP
Trocheck’s tying goal came after the Hurricanes pulled Andersen for an extra skater. Trocheck didn’t have a goal or assist in the previous five games.
Sorokin appeared for the first time in New York’s last six games, with his previous outing coming March 27. He wasn’t threatened during stretches by the Metropolitan Division’s highest-scoring team.
The Islanders won the battle for the puck behind the net before Matt Martin delivered a pass to Pageau, who put the puck in the upper part of the net at 8:24 of the second period. Pageau has five of his 15 goals this season in the last three games.
Ilya Sorokin defends the nets during the Islanders’ win over the Hurricanes. USA TODAY Sports
The Hurricanes managed only one shot on goal in the second period. They failed to generate a scoring chance on a power play late in the period.
Carolina’s Martin Necas had a first-period opportunity when Sorokin left an opening, but Necas’ shot on the power play bounced off the goalie’s pad.
This was the first meeting between the teams since Carolina won 6-3 at home to open the season.
