A happier moment from Game 2 of the NLDS.

There was a moment in the sixth inning where Luis Severino was cruising along at 74 pitches with the Mets up 3-0 and my mind started to go to a dangerous place:

I was thinking, this is great. Let Severino go for the complete game shutout!

8 innings at least.

I started thinking, “Maybe they’ll sweep on Tuesday.”

Then Trea Turner rolled a single to left, Bryce Harper homered, Nick Castellanos homered, and we were tied.

By the time Severino struck out Bryson Stott Severino was up to 90 pitches or so.

Still, I thought the Mets were going to be OK.

I wasn’t exactly wrong.

It wasn’t a terrible outing by Severino.

3-3 through 6 against the Phillies isn’t a bad place to be. (It’s a little worse when it looks like you’re going to be up 3-0 through 6 against the Phillies.)

And it was Brandon Nimmo who put the Mets back in front with a homer, the Mets’ third of the day - after a Mark Vientos 2-run shot and a Pete Alonso solo homer.

In tight, important games like this you really see what a competitive fire Nimmo has.

Then things got crazy.

Carlos Mendoza went to Edwin Diaz in the bottom of the 7th and he struck out Kyle Schwarber with men on.

I never believed Diaz was in there for a 7-out save…I couldn’t believe the announcers seemed to think so.

I thought he was just there to get the meat of the Phillies order. In the 8th, though, he got into trouble after walking Harper, and Stott got to him - that appears to be a bad matchup for Diaz. I almost rathered he attack Harper.

So it was 6-4 Philly, Tylor Megill gets out of the 8th, and the Mets are just never out of it. Mark Vientos hit a 2-run home run (after a single by Francisco Lindor) to tie the game.

I like Mendoza believing in Diaz enough to bring him in against the toughest batters in the toughest spots…but then there’s always the question of who will finish the game. (Especially on the road.) Those last three outs are so tough to get.

It was Megill who was left out there for the 9th…and it really felt like whoever hit last was winning this game.

Sure enough, the Phillies walked it off, winning 7-6.

But I’m not shattered.

The series tied at 1 heading back to Citi Field feels like an advantage to the Mets.

The Phillies have to come out of that game thinking ‘Thank goodness we won.’ The Mets can be more like, ‘Well, that was a good game. Time to go home finally.’

The Mets haven’t played at Citi Field since September 22nd. (When, wouldn’t you know it, they took 3 out of 4 from the Phillies.)

Tuesday is going to be electric.

I’m excited to be there.

Let’s Go Mets.

Quick Notes:

*Bryce Harper is an all-time great. He put the Phillies on his back Sunday the same way Lindor has done for the Mets all season long.

*I wish Vientos’ big 2-homer game didn’t come in a loss.

*Credit where it’s due: After seeing some terrible umpiring Saturday, nice job by Edwin Moscoso calling balls and strikes Sunday.

*I have no idea what to expect from the Mets against Aaron Nola Tuesday. Sometimes they crush him, sometimes he dominates them. Hopefully, obviously, it’s the former.

*It definitely felt like the Fox booth was favoring the Phillies Sunday. I don’t think they’re necessarily rooting for Philadelphia overall…but I think they definitely did not want the Mets to go up 2-0 and possibly have a short series.

*So I’m pretty sure Tuesday will be my 3rd lifetime Mets playoff game. It will be my first since the 2000 NLCS against St. Louis. I think I’ve only been to one other - a Red Sox-Cleveland Division Series (?) game in 1999.

*If you’re new here, I’m running the New York City Marathon for Joe Torre Safe At Home Foundation in less than a month. If you can help me reach my fundraising goal, you can make a donation at this link. Thank you!

*If you’re of the Mets-Jets ilk like me, I’m not too worried about the Jets loss in London earlier on Sunday. (I love a 9:30am Sunday kickoff. Maybe I should move to California.) They’ll be fine in the long run. They’ll be competing for a wild card - who knows, maybe the division depending on how next Monday night goes. And it’s pretty important that 2 of their losses have come to NFC teams. That won’t count against them in tiebreakers.