Let’s see, this has been a typical time for the Mets, correct?
They called up Michael Conforto. They traded for Kelly Johnson, Juan Uribe and Tyler Clippard. They lost Jenrry Mejia to another PED suspension. They almost traded Wilmer Flores and Zack Wheeler then nixed the deal over medical concerns. But Flores, thinking he was gone, became a poster child for the human side of the game and a local hero. Then they did trade for Yoenis Cespedes as GM Sandy Alderson held more chats with the media than a politico seeking office.
Toss in a game when the Mets were two strikes from victory only to lose after a rain delay, plus Lucas Duda’s emergence as a home run machine. There is pitching that often is flat-out dominant and led to a sweep of Washington. And oh, they are in a virtual tie for first place with the Nationals.
Ever seen anything like it?
“No,” Daniel Murphy said. “To answer your question in the simplest terms, I have not.”
The cap to all those events came Sunday at Citi Field on national television. Amid pennant-race energy and enthusiasm that flowed from every nook and cranny of the ballpark, Curtis Granderson, Murphy and the hottest home run hitter on the planet, or at least in Queens, Duda, all homered five pitches apart in a five-run Mets third inning. When that carnage was done, the Mets gathered behind rookie Noah Syndergaard for a 5-2 nationally televised victory, the series sweep of the Nationals Sunday and a virtual share of first place in the NL East.
“It’s so much fun to be a Met right now,” said Syndergaard (6-5) after he worked eight innings, striking out nine, walking none while allowing the Nationals to score only on solo homers by Anthony Rendon in the first inning and Yunel Escobar in the sixth.
Rendon was the second batter of the game when he homered on a shot originally thought to be a double but overturned by the umps. You didn’t really expect normal.
“I’ve seen a lot of things,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “I’ve never experienced the emotional roller coaster we went through these past 10 days at home. And I salute the players for being able to deal with it.”
Normalcy, thy name is anything but Mets.
The power barrage seemed fitting for a night when electricity seemed to charge the crowd. Collins called it the result of “winning New York baseball.”
And when it wasn’t the bats, Syndergaard excited with his arm, throwing 109 pitches over eight innings. Ex-Nat Tyler Clippard worked the ninth for his first Mets save. Clippard, who proclaimed the Nationals “beatable” when he arrived, was surprised by the crowd and the atmosphere.
“There were more fans than I’ve ever seen before,” Clippard said.
And they all went nuts in the third inning, which contained those three Mets homers off Jordan Zimmermann (8-7), who walked Kevin Plawecki to start the assault. Two outs later, Granderson lifted a curve for his 17th homer to right. The crowd erupted.
“It happened quick. He was pitching very well prior to that inning,” Granderson said.
The fans were still cheering when Murphy drilled the first pitch he saw, a 96-mph fastball. The shot might have made Ohio had not the upper deck got in the way. Cespedes, who started in center for the first time since July 28 last season, singled to left for his first Mets hit before Duda continued his stunning home run parade to make it 5-1.
“It’s just a lot of fun,” Murphy said.
“The electricity in the ball park was incredible,” said Collins. “Right now Grandy’s been doing it. And this is one guy [Zimmermann] Dan can’t wait to face, and Lucas is hot.”
Duda also went first-pitch swinging and sent a fastball down the line in right off the facing of the second deck for his 21st home run of the season and ninth in eight games since July 25. So Duda had a streak when nine of his 10 hits were home runs. The other hit? Saturday’s game-winning RBI double. Duda later singled in the sixth.
So with their power display that completed a three-game sweep of the Nationals, who were 15-4 against them last year (9-1 at Citi Field), the Mets, trailing the Nationals by percentage points, proved they are legit and their confidence is real.
Just look at the standings.