Summer Drive

Saturday was another chapter in my "Summer of Long Island," which is a longer story than is worth going into, really ever. The short of this is that circumstances have, on several occasions this Summer, made it necessary for me to spend entire days on Long Island, and as such it's meant I haven't seen or heard much, if any, of these weekend games over the past several months. This, in spite of driving directly past Citi Field on the Grand Central Parkway as games are about to, or recently, end. But, just as the season is winding down, so is the "Summer of Long Island."

What isn't winding down (SEGUE MASTER) is the Mets, who rebounded from a pair of losses and more injuries to beat the Nationals on Saturday night, 3-1. I didn't see the game, except for a few brief seconds while at a diner in Hicksville, so essentially what I know is the main bullet points; Robert Gsellman pitched quite well, got through some early trouble against the Nationals annoying lineup, got a lead when Curtis Granderson picked up a key 2-run single in the 3rd inning, and an insurance run in the 6th thanks to a James Loney RBI double. For 6 innings, Gsellman allowed 6 hits and walked 3, not exactly clean, but he only allowed 1 run and as such this was good enough to win.

Jim Henderson, Josh Smoker, Addison Reed and Jeurys Familia finished it off for the Mets, and if you think it's a lot for the Mets to have used 4 relievers to cover 3 innings of game, look at the Nationals' side of the Box Score. With the expanded September rosters, Dusty Baker seems to have taken it upon himself to just play matchups on a batter-to-batter basis, as after Tanner Roark was removed after 5 innings, he used 14 6 relievers to cover 3 innings, most of them retreats who wouldn't be on a Major League Roster were it not September.

In the end, though, it doesn't matter how many pitchers it takes or how many runs, but so long as you win the game, and unlike last night, the Mets were able to take advantage of both the Cardinals and Pirates losing, and the Marlins...well...they were a cute little story, weren't they?