(David Wright Scores Against The Nationals Photo: Neil Miller/Sportsday Wire)
You got to give these Mets credit. They sure can get up off the mat when they are down.
After a lost weekend, where they dropped two of three to the Marlins and had another mini-controversy, this time involving Matt Harvey, the Amazin’s came into Washington desperate for a win, facing ace Matt Scherzer.
And before you could say “Panic City” the Mets responded, pounding Scherzer for five runs and winning 8-5.
More importantly, it was how the Mets won that made this win especially sweet. Leading 3-0, Jon Niese gives up a Grand Slam to Wilson Ramos and one more run in the fourth.
In the past, down 5-3, you would think it was game over.
But something funning happened. After the fourth inning the bullpen took over and gave up nothing. Carlos Torres, Erik Goeddel, Dario Alvarez, Hansel Robles and Jeurys Familia came marching in, one by one and shut the Nats down. What was considered the Mets Achilles Heel, became their strength on Labor Day. The Mets will need performances like this if they are going to win the National League East.
With Matt Harvey, Noah Syndergaard and to an extent Jacob deGrom going to be limited in their innings, the team will need the bullpen arms to step up. Players like Goeddel and Alvarez will be called upon to get key outs over the next few weeks.
It’s going to be the cost of doing business over the next month.
A day after the team saw Tyler Clippard blow a game in Miami, there was a somewhat loss in faith. Clippard was the Mets best reliever over the last month. Sure, even Mariano Rivera blew games, but to have your lights-out eighth inning guy give a game away was disheartening.
And then today happened. A loss would have put the Mets only three games up with the Nationals rolling. To stop Nats in their tracks turns the momentum of this race around. Now the Mets have the advantage with Harvey – looking to prove something – going tomorrow and then deGrom getting the ball on Wednesday.
A sweep would essentially kill the Nationals chances and even a split helps the Mets run out the clock. They are proving that 2007 was truly eight years ago and there will be no collapse this year.
A little over a month ago, the Mets turned around their season with a three game series with the Nationals. Today, they did it again. When it’s darkest, these Mets grab for the light and ultimately shine the brightest.
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