The baseball sat on the top shelf of rookie Kirk Nieuwenhuis’ locker. This was his first major league home-run ball, but it represented much more than that one big hit, which Daniel Murphy declared to be the “biggest swing’’ of the game last night at Citi Field.
That’s quite a statement, since it was Murphy’s single in the bottom of the ninth that knocked in the winning run in a 4-3 walk-off win over the Nationals and caused the Mets to run onto the field in celebration as if they had just clinched the playoffs instead of moving to 4-0 on the season.
The ball represented a lifetime of baseball work for Nieuwenhuis. It represented all those days growing up when his dad and his mom worked with him to help mold him into the player he has become.
“I’m going to give the ball to my Pops,’’ said Nieuwenhuis, whose parents are here, visiting from their home in Ripon, Calif. They are going home today. “It’s my mom’s 50th birthday, too. What a great day, it was such a team win there at the end, it was unbelievable.
“My dad never really played baseball; he was a football player, but he was there every step of the way,’’ Nieuwenhuis said. And when his dad was away on a business trip it was his mom who went to the field to help him practice.
When someone suggested he should give the ball to his mom as a birthday gift, Nieuwenhuis smiled and said, “Yeah, I’m re-thinking it now.’’
No matter how the Mets’ season turns out, they will at least have this victory and their 4-0 start to look back on later this year. Talk to the Mets, though, and they will tell you this is just the beginning of something special.
These Mets believe in one another, and they believe in the Mets’ system. Manager Terry Collins’ starting lineup last night had eight players who were originally signed by the Mets, a night he said the organization should be proud of because of such an accomplishment.
Collins also said the lefty-hitting Nieuwenhuis, who started in center field, could be something special, “the real deal.’’
The home run to right, which came off a 2-2 hanging slider from Edwin Jackson and was a bullet over the new drawn-in right-field wall, came with two outs and it came with Nieuwenhuis batting in the eighth hole and starting pitcher Mike Pelfrey up next. Eight-hole thunder is a rarity.
“This kid is on the start of possibly a great major league career,’’ Collins said. “He’s got all the tools, he can hit the ball out of the park, he plays good defense, I was very, very happy for him.’’
Nieuwenhuis’ two-run homer tied the game 3-3 in the fourth. Then in the ninth, it was home-grown shortstop Ruben Tejada’s sacrifice bunt that set up Murphy’s winning hit by sending Mike Baxter from first to third on a throwing error by losing pitcher Henry Rodriguez. Baxter nearly scored on the play, but slipped coming around third and scrambled back to the bag only to come dancing home on Murphy’s single to right-center.
The Mets insist they are building something unique with all the homegrown talent. Catcher Josh Thole, who walked and scored on Nieuwenhuis’ home run, noted: “A lot of these guys all came up together. We’re just starting to come together as a team. When you have that it is really something special.’’
Nieuwenhuis was called up because of the Opening Day injury to centerfielder Andres Torres.
“It’s a lot of fun coming up with everybody in the minors,’’ said Nieuwenhuis, who jumped over the dugout rail to join in the celebration when Baxter scored.
“There are a lot of guys lined up in the minors, putting in the work,’’ Nieuwenhuis said. “It’s a blast to be on a team like with these kinds of teammates and these kinds of coaches, it’s really fun.’’
His blast, that one baseball, told quite a story.