The Right Answer

At the outset of the season, or maybe even before, I talked about how I believed the Mets were flying under everyone's radar and not being taken seriously, but they shouldn't be slept on because they're a much better team than anyone wants to give them credit for. Everyone was talking about teams like Washington, and even Miami ahead of the Mets. Not sexy. Not experienced enough. Too many questions.

Funny how things can change.

The Mets have been flipping the script on Washington all season and on Wednesday night they did it once again. For 7 innings, Stephen Strasburg had them on the ropes, looking like his vintage self and gassing the Mets. Jacob deGrom, in what was his best outing in several trips, held his ground just fine but nonetheless departed the game with a 2-1 deficit. But the way this series has gone, with the Mets coming back from deficits on a regular basis, you had to think the Mets had one good rally in them.

The Mets got those runs back and then some, although it wasn't so much a rally as much as it was a pair of lightning strikes that left Washington stunned and without an answer. Kelly Johnson led off the 8th pinch hitting for Wilmer Flores and belted a Home Run to tie the game. Undaunted, Strasburg remained in and picked up a strikeout on Kirk Nieuwenhuis, but then gave up a single to Curtis Granderson and his night was done. Matt Williams' choice to replace Strasburg, puzzlingly, was Drew Storen. Støren, as you may recall, was central in Washington's 7th inning meltdown on Tuesday and has been patently awful for a month, as opposed to being barely passable at other times. Støren had the task of having to get out Yoenis Cespedes, who's been the hottest hitter on the planet lately. You sort of knew where this was going. It took all of 2 pitches before Cespedes took a fastball and launched it out of sight for a 2-run Home Run to put the Mets ahead for good.

Though Tyler Clippard allowed a Home Run to Bryce Harper, Washington got no closer. The Mets tacked on an insurance run in the 9th—a little thing that might get overlooked in the grand scheme of things—and Jeurys Familia sealed the deal in the 9th to finish off the game and finish off a sweep.

There are still 23 games left in the season and we've seen all sorts of weird, horrible things happen as things go down to the wire. But it feels different right now. The Mets lead Washington by 7 games now, and they just swept them and kind of embarrassed them in the process. Every time Washington took a shot—and it was probably their best shot—€”the Mets answered. Terry Collins made every move work and on the other side Matt Williams was grasping at straws for a solution. Washington had a lead in all three of these games and each time they couldn't seal the deal. For a team that had set up their rotation and clearly had everything riding on this series emotionally, getting swept like this has to be completely demoralizing. For the first time now, and as usual I really hesitate saying this because it's way too cocky, but I'm really not sure they have it in them to go on the run that everyone thinks they're going to go on. They wiped out Atlanta last weekend to get them close but couldn't build on that momentum. Now, the Mets have their shot at them while Washington goes to Florida to take on the Mickey Mouse Marlins who can be a real pain in the ass. If you didn't feel good about the Mets chances before this week, you have to be feeling supremely confident right now.

Maybe everyone shouldn't have slept on the Mets.

Rewriting The Story

After 6 innings on Tuesday night, I don't think any Mets fan could be blamed for being a little annoyed. Yes, a loss wouldn't have been the end of the world, particularly considering the Nationals are still very much a contending team with a ferocious lineup. But the way things were playing out was quite aggravating. First, after the whole innings limit spectacle over the weekend, Matt Harvey had a chance to go out and just shut everyone up, and he didn't do that. He didn't pitch especially poorly, but Washington reached him for 2 runs in the 1st inning and another in the 2nd before things completely unraveled in the 6th. Harvey did himself no favors by basically Daniel Murphy-ing an Ian Desmond bunt attempt with 2 on and no outs, and the resulting late throw he made to 3rd base put him in an impossible spot. Harvey got 1 of the 3 outs he needed to survive this mess, but then 14-year old Outfielder Michael Taylor rocketed a single to center field that hopped past Yoenis Cespedes, rolled to the wall, and instead of allowing 1 or 2 runs to score, 4 runs scored and a salvageable 3-1 lead turned into a 7-1 bloodbath. That was going to be the story of the night: Matt Harvey with egg on his face. When your Ace starts giving up Little League Home Runs to guys who actually look like Little Leaguers, you had to figure it just wasn't the Mets night.

Or, you know, the Mets had the Nationals right where they wanted them.

The Mets only reached Jordan Zimmermann for 1 run, a David Wright Home Run, but of course what doesn't show up in the box score is the fact that they kept making Zimmermann throw extra pitches and drove up his pitch count to the point where Matt Williams removed him from the game after 5.1 innings. I know Matt Williams has sort of become the butt of all MLB jokes because of his questionable in-game decisions, and this was sort of the theory in action. Zimmermann had thrown 100 pitches, yes. But given how awful his bullpen has been, wouldn't he have been wise to at least try to squeeze another inning out of him? Instead, Zimmermann was gone and the parade began. Just like in the 7th inning on Monday.

Blake Treinen started the 7th inning for Washington on Tuesday. Because, you know, Monday worked out so well for him. He gave up a hit to Wright, then got two quick outs, and then walked Michael Conforto. Again, no real cause for panic. Then, Treinen gave up an RBI single to Wilmer Flores. Kelly Johnson was then sent up to hit for Erik Goeddel. Again, at 7-2, there's no real need to panic or play matchups, especially with 2 outs. Naturally, Williams comes out to remove Treinen for Felipe Rivero. Because, you know, Monday worked out so well for him. Juan Uribe pinch hit for Johnson. Rivero walked him. Curtis Granderson followed. Rivero walked him. Now it's 7-3 and even though there's two outs and I'm thinking there's still no way they can screw this up, there's also that thought in the back of my head of that Friday Night in 2000 when Kerry Lightenberg and Terry Mulholland started walking everyone and all of a sudden the Mets scored 10 runs in an inning. Williams, who by this point must reflexively come out of the dugout every time someone reaches base, came out to remove Rivero. This time, he went to Drew Storen, his deposed closer.

Støren, however, has basically become Washington's Aaron Heilman. Støren blew an important playoff game three years ago, and ever since then he's mostly been a disaster. Somehow, he righted the ship this year and was having a fine season up until Washington traded for another closer and Støren was shoved to the 8th inning. That hasn't gone well. Still, Williams keeps going to him. Sort of like how Jerry Manuel kept going to Aaron Heilman when Heilman invariably would give up at least one long hit every time he hit the mound. It didn't take very long for this move to bite Williams in the ass. Cespedes greeted Støren by scalding a line drive down into the Left Field corner that cleared the bases and turned a 4-run game into a 1-run game. At this point, Williams probably should have done the prudent thing and taken Støren out of the game, because he already looked like he'd swallowed his jockstrap. But curiously, after having such a quick trigger with everyone else he threw out there, Williams sat on his hands and watched while Støren walked Daniel Murphy, walked David Wright and then walked Lucas Duda to force home the tying run. Still, Williams left him out there. Støren by now was starting to turn the kind of colors reserved for outfield wall padding. Travis d'Arnaud was next, and it wouldn't have surprised me if Støren either drilled him, or threw the next pitch into his own dugout in a blind rage. It also wouldn't have surprised me if d'Arnaud sent the next pitch into orbit. None of these things came to pass; Støren finally got it together enough to throw a strike and d'Arnaud hit it well, but also hit it right in the vicinity of Bryce Harper for an inning-ending out.

So. After all that, the game was now tied, and once again, the Mets dugout looked like a pep rally while the Nationals looked like a Gravediggers convention. But the Mets still had to survive their own iffy bullpen, although by comparison the Mets seem to have guys that look dominant. Addison Reed, who's been tossed right into the fire, came in, gave up a leadoff hit and then got the next three guys. This was a good example of Terry Collins not panicking and either trying to squeeze two innings out of Clippard or Familia before he had a lead. Instead, he just went with the guy he thought gave him the best chance and it worked. Matt Williams, on the other hand, panicked and went right to his closer, Jonathan Papelbon, in the 8th inning, in spite of not having a lead. Papelbon got the first two men out, and then, of course, gave up the Pinch Hit Home Run heard 'Round the World to Kirk Nieuwenhuis, and the Mets led for the first time all night. It figures it would be Nieuwenhuis, whose season Home Run output was concentrated to one game. Because that's what happens when you're really going well. You get weird, magical things happening like a guy who was traded, released, resigned and bounced between AAA and the Majors multiple times hitting a clutch Home Run.

Now, with the lead, the game had played right into Collins' hands. Tyler Clippard was rested after his Sunday debacle and set down the Nationals with ease. In the 9th, Jeurys Familia appeared once again and this time was not quite so clean, allowing a single to Dirtbag Pete (who in his usual classy fashion barked at Familia all the way to 1st) and later walked Harper. I, like many others, did not mind walking Harper quite so much, considering the alternative, him hitting a ball into the 3rd deck and clowning his way around the bases. Besides, it just set up Yunel Escobar to hit into the 5-4-3 Double Play to end the game and assure the Mets of leaving town with nothing worse than a 5-game advantage and chewed up one more day off the clock of the Baseball season.

Monday's game was kind of a frenetic frenzy of a game, given the way things went back and forth. Tuesday night was something different. This was one of those groundswell games, where all of a sudden a team starts getting a little momentum and they can't stop. Or their opponent just can't stop them. Or both. The story of the game went from being about how Matt Harvey failed in a big game and a bah blah blah to the Comeback Mets sticking it to the Nationals again. The kind of game that you point to as one of those watershed nights looking back on a memorable season. I still hate to seem like I'm getting ahead of myself. But it seems like there's a lot of memories yet to be created this year.

No Quarter

This, then, would be the series that we'd circled as the make-or-break point in the Mets season. It seems like, particularly for the past month, but really for a majority of the season, these three games between the Mets and Nationals at the beginning of crunch time, in September with the lights starting to really brighten, would tell us just how far the Mets had come. Certainly, the signs over the last month have been more than encouraging; after basically being the Nationals' bitches for the better part of three seasons, the Mets finally started to fight back, first by punching the Nationals in the teeth last month at Citi Field. This kick started the Mets on a furious run that saw them not just catch and pass the Nationals for 1st place, but also put the Nationals in a slumber and allowed the Mets to gain distance. Over the last week, things evened out a bit and so here we are, with the Mets coming into Washington ahead by 4 games.

The goal in another era might have been to not get swept and to not fall back into old habits. But these Mets are made of something different. Rather than play to not lose, the goal for these Mets is clearly to step on Washington's throat and bury them now. You only had to watch Monday afternoon's raucous affair to see this as truth.

I'd mentioned last week that the Nationals were clearly pinning everything on this series. They'd lined up their pitching just so, so that Max Scherzer was starting the opening game against Jon Niese, who's turned back into a bit of a weak link in the rotation. But early, it seemed apparent that neither pitcher was going to put forth a dominant, game-changing outing. Scherzer was all over the map in the 1st inning and was only fortunate to put away Murphy and Cespedes after Curtis Granderson started the game with a sun-aided double. Undaunted, the Mets charged right back after Scherzer in the 2nd, as Michael Conforto led off the inning with a Home Run, again to Left Field, and Kelly Johnson hit one of his own. In the 4th, Yoenis Cespedes hit the Mets 3rd HR off Scherzer and the Mets were off and running.

But, of course, Jon Niese had another Jon Niese outing. He was a pitch or two away from unraveling in the 3rd inning, but managed to get Bryce Harper to fly out. In the 4th, however, everything got away from him as it annoyingly seems to do. I try to be kind to Niese because it's not like he tries to perform this way, but I can't defend him after the 4th inning in this game. This was the biggest start of his life and he pitched like an asshole once again. As soon as Yunel Escobar's 10-foot ground ball didn't roll foul I knew he was screwed and of course it was Mr. Head & Shoulders, Wilson Ramos, that did him in. Niese got ahead of Ramos 0-2 and should have bounced his curve 10 feet in front of the plate. Instead, he got it over, Ramos reached out and hit it into the seats and just like that everything was horrible. To make matters worse, Niese responded by giving up two more long hits before mercifully being removed, at which point he proceeded to walk around the dugout screaming while his teammates ignored him. Nobody needs to hear it out of him. You want compassion? Pitch better.

Fortunately, Niese's teammates seem to grasp the concept of a big game and a 2-run deficit with 5 innings left to play seems to be no sweat. The paint hadn't even dried on Washington's 5 spot before Granderson doubled home Tejada in the 5th, and in the 6th, Cespedes doubled, rooked Scherzer into a balk and then scored on a Travis d'Arnaud sacrifice fly. Just like that, game tied, Niese off the hook.

In the 7th, then, the Mets finally got into the Nationals bullpen, which appears to possess the consistency of the bullpen of the 2008 Mets. Washington's bullpen has submarined them for weeks now, and there seems to be no palatable option in sight. I know the Mets have had their own issues in the bullpen, but Washington's got some next-level shit going on. Blake Treinen started the inning, gave up a hit, got an out, and was pulled for Felipe Rivero, because Matt Williams had to play matchups. Rivero predictably walked Curtis Granderson, the only guy he was in there to face. Williams then pulled Rivero for Casey Janssen, who gave up an RBI single to David Wright that put the Mets ahead. Williams again came out to remove Janssen and bring in Matt Thornton. Thornton got his guy, Daniel Murphy, out, but his fly ball was deep enough to score Granderson. By this point, 2 runs in the hole, Williams I guess just threw up his hands and left Thornton in to face Cespedes because what was the use? Though the situation was ripe for Cespedes to hit one into the Anacostia, he instead showed some temperance by just doubling to right, scoring Wright from first and allowing Wright to explode in the kind of celebration we haven't seen out of him since Shea Stadium. Thornton then got Conforto out to finally end the inning, but by that point the game had already been nuked.

Meanwhile, the Mets bullpen completely stonewalled Washington and allowed them nothing after the 4th, perhaps a further indictment of Niese. Carlos Torres put out the fire in the 4th and probably would have kept going had a balky groin or calf or whatever not acted up. No matter. Erik Goeddel came in and kept things clean. In the 6th, Harper came up with 2 outs and Dario Alvarez was summoned for his first outing of the season. I'm sure everyone had reason to be skeptical of this move seeing as how one guy is an MVP candidate and the other was a veteran of 4 Major League games, none of which were in 2015, but Alvarez kept throwing sliders and eventually struck out Harper, because that's just the way the game was going. Hansel Robles, who every so often comes out and just blows everyone away, did just that by pitching 2 perfect innings and striking out 4. And, of course, Jeurys Familia, who amazingly hadn't pitched since last Monday, came in and did his thing in the 9th and the Mets came away with a statement 8-5 victory in the first game of this series of massive importance. 

The Nationals have seen this happen enough times at this point that they were completely dazed by the 8th inning. You can tell a lot by body language and as this game progressed, the Mets dugout seemed more pep rally and the Nationals seemed tense and out of sorts. But then again, this is how it's been for weeks. The Nationals get ahead early and can't figure out a way to shorten the game. Once opposing teams figure that out, they'll keep trying harder and harder to come back. Against bad teams, you can mask it, but when the good teams come to town, eventually something has to give. This was the story of the Mets not long ago. Now, that shoe is on the other foot and the Mets are the beneficiary of someone else's issues. It's nice to feel that way for once.

Run Away, Quick!

The Mets played their second "Stupid Marlins Game" in three days on Sunday and with that having happened, I can't even begin to tell you how glad I am that the Mets are now done in ElectricLoriaLand until 2016. When you have the same stupid thing happen to you and you get walked off by the same stupid fake-ass team twice in three games, you just have to lick your wounds, shake it off and come back the next day with a clear head. Annoyingly, the Mets had this happen to them on the lead-in to their biggest series of the year, which begins this afternoon in Washington. Washington is now 4 games back, having picked up a pair of games this weekend as they had the advantage of playing Atlanta, who seemed only too happy to lay down like a bunch of bitches for 4 straight games. I can only hope that they give the Mets the same courtesy when they travel down to Dixieland this coming weekend, but the Mets have had too much bullshit happen to them in that city over the years for me to feel too comfortable.

Unlike the usual "Stupid Marlins Game," the Mets actually had a lead through much of this game. Steven Matz made his long-awaited return after one of those mysterious injuries that's reported as "no big deal" and ends up keeping the player out for 2 months. So Matz, who lest we forget is a veteran of all of two Major League games, took to the mound and started this game about the same way he started his debut, which is to say that he was a little all over the place. He managed to grit and gut his way through 5.1 innings and left in line for a victory, but as far as a clean outing, this wasn't it. The Marlins reached Matz for a run in the 1st to counter Yoenis Cespedes' 1st inning Home Run into the Mystery Machine, and in the 5th inning, Matz allowed a Home Run to Jeff Mathis. But Wilmer Flores hit a 2-run Home Run in the top of the 6th and at that point, everything seemed to be working in the Mets favor. Hansel Robles finished the 6th, Addison Reed battled through the 7th and the Mets then had the game where they want it.

But on this afternoon it was Tyler Clippard's turn to lay the stink bomb. In the 8th, Clippard got the first two men out before Mouth-breathing Neanderthal Justin Bour put down his rack of PBR long enough to pinch hit and smoke a Home Run into the next county to tie the game up. The Mets had an opportunity to go back ahead in the top of the 9th against Carlos Zambrano A.J. Ramos, but in a spot that screamed for a lefty bat, Travis d'Arnaud was sent up instead with 1 out and the bases loaded, swung at a sucker pitch from Ramos and grounded into a killer double play.

Clippard remained in for the last of the 9th, which I was actually OK with, except that everything quickly melted down around him. He struck out Mathis to start the inning, except that Anthony Recker couldn't handle the ball and couldn't prevent Mathis from reaching 1st base. Clippard got an out but then Dee Gordon pulled his Hanley Ramirez act and got a hit, and the runner went to 3rd, and there was an intentional walk, but by that point the game was clearly beyond salvage.

So...yeah. Enough of the fucking Marlins. Fortunately, as I said, the Mets don't need to come back to Miami until 2016 so they don't have to worry about more Miami bullshit. But, now, they have to deal with the Washington bullshit which is a whole other story and with an unfavorable pitching matchup this afternoon, you can't help but feel like things might get worse here before they get better. But, who knows. The Mets have made a habit of getting up off the mat this season far more often than they let the mat get on top of them.

One-Man Band

You know, when things get crazy and out of hand, and it seems like things are about to totally implode on themselves, it's really nice to know that the Mets have this force of nature that can go out there, toy with his opponent and calm everyone down. That's what Bartolo Colon did last night.

I really have nothing particular to say about this whole Sandy Alderson/Matt Harvey/Scott Boras dog and pony show except to say that this whole thing smacks of a meddlesome agent and a player trying to please everyone but when push comes to shove, does anyone really, seriously think Harvey is not pitching in a playoff game? The Mets need to get there first but let's be real here. This will straighten itself out.

In the meantime, all the off-the-field insanity was quietly and efficiently shoved to the side by Bartolo Colon. In pitching the Mets' first CGShO of the season (and I believe their first since Zack Wheeler did so in this same building last year), Colon basically quieted everyone. He shut up the media that was too busy ripping Harvey a new asshole to pay attention to the game, and he also shut up everyone who keeps writing him off and assuming he's done. By all logic, I suppose, he should be done but what the hell. At age 42 and in the kind of shape generally reserved for people like David Wells or John Kruk, Colon keeps on getting the job done. Combine this start with the two he had previously (and the one-inning relief appearance), Colon is now up to 25 consecutive scoreless innings and has provided some much-needed stability at a point in time where the younger pitchers are sort of running out of steam a little bit. With Colon, there's no innings limit, there's no pitch count, it's just go do it, big guy and on Saturday night, he did just that.

The Mets offense clubbed around Brad Hand for 7 runs by the 2nd inning which was more than enough for Colon. Colon had things under such control that by the 6th inning, he'd decided to have a little fun and when Neanderthal infielder Justin Bour hit a tapper up the first base line with 2 outs (which represented solid contact against Bartolo), Colon delivered the showstopping play of the year with his now-legendary behind-the-back flip to 1st base.

Colon, then, finished off his 7-0 CGShO in 100 pitches and without breaking much of a sweat. In his last outing, he hit 100 pitches at the end of the 8th inning against the Phillies, with a 3-0 lead and ended up getting pulled in favor of Familia. This time, after making it through 8 innings on 90 pitches, Colon needed no such help. At this point, Colon now should be considered not simply for the rotation should the Mets maintain their lead and make the playoffs, but could you imagine him as a swing guy coming out of the bullpen for a few innings? He's shown that he clearly still has what it takes to make a difference here and he could really bring some order into absurd situations. That's both on and off the field.