Inside Mets' Francisco Lindor's series-clinching grand slam: 'A swing of a lifetime'

NEW YORK — Katia Lindor closed her eyes and started praying. 

When she opened them, the ball off Francisco Lindor's bat was still in the air — and heading toward the fence in right-center field. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon," she told herself as it continued to sail. Finally, the ball landed beyond the fence and into the visitor's bullpen. Pandemonium ensued around her, a blur of fans in orange and blue jumping up and down and making the ground shake. 

She started crying. 

"It's almost like a weight is lifted off our shoulders where it's like, people finally appreciate him, and they see his value," Lindor's wife said. "I think they're starting to see it beyond the field, too, and definitely on the field. I'm so proud of him. I'm in awe of him every day. His hard work is just incessant. He does not take his responsibility and his role lightly."

Lindor's sixth-inning grand slam was perhaps the biggest home run in Citi Field's brief history, and perhaps the best swing of his life. In one fell swoop Wednesday, the hit put the Mets on the board, gave them the lead and accounted for all of their offense in a 4-1 victory that eliminated the rival Phillies from the postseason and sent New York to the National League Championship Series for the first time since 2015. 

The series-cliching grand slam — a true fairytale moment for Queens — also served as a metaphor for all that Lindor means to this Mets organization. 

"I want to win it all. I want to win it all," Lindor said. "And ours will be a team that will forever be remembered. This will be a team that comes every 10 years and eats for free everywhere they go. And I want to do that. I want to do that. But the job is not done."

Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns, eyes