Stop me if you’ve heard this before. The Mets used a late-inning comeback to defeat the Washington Nationals, 5-3, Wednesday night and earn a sweep of their three-game series. They lead the NL East by seven games and the magic number is down to 17.
- Most of the game was a nice pitching duel between Jacob deGrom and Stephen Strasburg. Through seven innings, those two combined for 14 IP and 21 Ks. The Nats held a 2-1 lead. But then Kelly Johnson led off the top of the eighth with a pinch-hit homer to tie the game. Strasburg then recorded his 13th strikeout of the night. But a single by Curtis Granderson knocked Strasburg out of the game and Yoenis Cespedes greeted reliever Drew Storen with a two-run homer.
- When the series started, the Nats were hot, the Mets were scuffling and Terry Collins was not giving the doubters any reason to trust him. At the end, the Mets are riding high, the Nats are finished and Matt Williams is the one who had all of his moves questioned. Collins got out of the way and not only didn’t go matchup crazy, he watched that tactic implode on Williams. His biggest decision was allowing Reed to pitch the seventh inning and face two lefties, including Bryce Harper, on Tuesday. Reed retired both of them. And two guys Collins sent up to pinch-hit homered.
- After going 4-15 versus the Nationals in 2014, the Mets are 10-6 against them this year and have won the last six games this year.
- Since going 1-7 on an eight-game road trip in June, the Mets are 22-11 on the road. They look to pad that record with their next series, a four-game set in Atlanta.
I would have left Strasburg in against Cespedes.Storen must be ready for the rubber room after the last 2 games.
It’d be great to talk about how awesome the Mets are, but I think the Nationals are a bigger story.
It has been a disaster. From the rotation, to the bullpen, to the offense, and even to the defense it has been a petrifying scene in the nation’s capital. If in fact the Mets win the division, someone must be fired. Whether its Williams or Rizzo, the fans of the city deserve better (we Mets fans know about this kind of thing).
What’s great for Mets fans, but heartbreaking for Nationals fans, is that key pieces will depart after this year. Zimmerman, Desmond, Span, and Fister will all become free-agents.
A complete train wreck.
Julian, way to give your team a little credit. The Nationals were up all three games and the Mets took it from them. The Nationals had their best hitter shut down the first two games and had 18 Ks in 13 games, but tonight he broke out with two bombs. The Nationals won back-to-back 1-0 games at Citifield, either or both could have been the Mets’.
The Nationals had obstacles, but the Mets had more. And further, the Mets GM went out and fortified his ball club, but the Nationals ownership didn’t allow Rizzo to bring in any more help. The Nationals suffered a complete bullpen melt down, and then their hitters weren’t capable of touching the Mets’ bullpen. They knocked around Niese, but who hasn’t lately? They scored some runs against Harvey, but without even one extra base hit. They are a bunch of arrogant HeartLess players! Scherzer has a 5 ERA since the break, Zimmerman had his magical year last year, and their other three big name starters have sucked all year.
Mets won because they deserved it. You should enjoy that and they got what they deserved.
My comment was nothing against the Mets themselves, I just think that the Nationals collapse is something that has somehow gone a bit under the rug. We’ve talked about it quite frequently, but we haven’t discussed how scary their future is.
You’re right, everything the Mets have done they have deserved it. I am thrilled for potential playoff baseball, and it’s all credited to Alderson and the players (maybe Collins).
Well said Gus. This is the Mets winning because they are a better team, playing a better brand of baseball. The Mets did not luck their way into 3 wins in DC. It’s easy to forget that in the past few years they Nats have been praised as the best thing going and eating the NL east alive. We watched game after game of Harper winning it in the 9th and hear how good they were…now it is our time to say how good we are.
I doubt that.
Going forward the Nats will have Harper and Rendon; they should be able to build a team around those two, even if they go the route of completing the outfield with guys who never got their chance elsewhere (Cliff Robinson being a current example). Ryan Zimmerman will return, and he seems to be rounding back into form after a long recovery spell.
Shortstop will be manned by Trea Turner, who should be a vast improvement over Desmond once he settles in. And the team will have a powerful starting rotation, even if Jordan Zimmerman departs.
This Nats team is going nowhere, at least nowhere too bad. They sign on a competent manager, and they could become the 1980’s Cardinals to our Mets.
Frankly, I am looking forward to it.
Just as long as they are not 7 up with 17 to go. I’ll take it and cough TC. Maybe it finally sank in as he watch Williams and the Nat’s bullpen implode again? Sure hope Collins remembers this series and the success the lack of match ups gave him.
Really? A lame swipe at Collins after that sweep?
Pinch-hitting Johnson for Flores was a bold and brilliant move.
Collins deserves credit.
This year is the Bizzarro 2007.
Oh, I’ve heard this before, but there is no way in hell Im stopping you!
Pinch-hitting Johnson for Flores was a bold and brilliant move.
Collins deserves credit.
This was a series we’ll remember for the rest of our lives.
That is absolutely true. This one goes into Mets history…and so did the sweep in NY when we took over.
TC finally has the players he’s been clamoring for. So it’s on him to put the players in the best possible situation to succeed. He out managed Williams and the Met’s hitters came through in the clutch. Cespedes is the game changer between the 2 clubs. I bashed Collins with his micro managing of the pen. So I will give him kudos for this series. The division is there for the taking. The Mets played more hungry than the Nat’s. That credit goes to Collins as well. Just taking things one game at time.
Hey, did anyone see the look on Harvey’s face when he was in the dugout after his team bailed him out…? It looked as though he was thinking why can’t you score runs when I’m pitching well…It seems like Mets starting pitching won’t always be “lights out” but now the big sticks come out and comeback! Have a feeling the playoffs will raise the stakes,intensity and focus of the best pitching staff in the league.Awesomeness!!!!!!!!
About the Nats:
It must have killed them to see Clippard pitching for the Mets. They traded away the wrong guy.
And while I know this site tends to go virulently anti-LOOGY, and anti-matchup, I think that’s another key piece that the Nationals lacked. They traded away Blevins too, and the guy they kept, Rivero, got tight and choked. To me, those two ABs with Granderson late in games 1 and 2 were key. He hits .162 vs. LHP and they walked him, twice. An effective LOOGY — not just any lefty, but an actual quality left-hander — could have shut down the Mets in big spots, twice, by getting a very vulnerable Curtis Granderson. I mean: They walked the bases loaded on Tuesday with two outs and a four-run lead . . . with Yoenis Cespedes on deck! What a monumental failure.
Three come from behind victories and never giving up made this series one of the best in Met history. The “new” Mets are better then the Nats as was proven this week.
The majority of the credit goes to Alderson for constructing this post July 24th team. Cespedes had an incredible series, Kelly Johnson had key hits, Conforto the draft pick keeps putting up the numbers while Clippard and Reed pave the path to Familia in the bullpen. Real nice job Sandy.
In regard to the two pinch hit homeruns the player interviews showed a change in hitting philosophy. Instead of “working” a count defensively, Kirk and Johnsorn were looking to avoid the pitchers best pitch and instead zeroed in and look for the pitch they could handle. http://nypost.com/2015/09/10/unsung-hero-validates-collins-hunch-helping-mets-sweep/
TC did a good job constructing the lineups and properly utilizing his Reed-Clippard-Familia bullpen. The best thing he did was handle the Harvey mess from the dugout and managers office. NY media can ruin a team’s focus and TC does handle the media extremely well. Three come from behind victories also shows that he has a good clubhouse. A great series!
Did anyone notice that many of the Nats players sat on the bench after Harpers first homerun instead of getting on their feet and showing some enthusiasm? I suspect Harper is a bit of an a-ho and some of his teammates don’t like him, but that lack of support seemed strange to me given the circumstances.
Yes, the contrast in dugouts came through loud and clear.
Not just Harper. I don’t think they are crazy about Williams either.
Harper is a great talent, but maybe his immaturity shows through arrogance and definitive statements, when in fact his teammates cannot backup his boasting.
Last winter when it was murmured that he was on the block, I openly wondered how we can get him and what it would cost. I think it was Brian that told me to forget it, they’ll never do it. But, Harper has backed up his noise; it’s his teammates that never lived up to what Harper was expecting of them.
In fact, the Nationals next year will be just as good, in most areas and fully healthy. I expect Span to accept his qualifying offer to make $16MM and rebuild his value. No way will he get anywhere near a good deal coming off injury. So, a lineup that has most key pieces, a good rotation of Scherzer, Strausburg, Ross, Roarke, and Gonzalez along with a rebuilt bullpen means the Mets better resign Cespedes. However, I expect Harper to be a bit more low key next year.