WASHINGTON — They tried their best to make Terrible Tuesday a memory.
It’s all about living in the moment as the clock continues to tick away. The real agony will come if the Mets fall just short of the postseason. They will have no one to blame but themselves. Until they are eliminated, however, they vow they will not quit.
The Mets’ bullpen did not blow a six-run lead for the second straight game as they beat the Nationals 8-4 Wednesday at Nationals Park. The good news is that the Mets took four of six against the Phillies and Nationals on this road trip.
The bad news is they did not make the most of the trip and come away with a clean sweep.
With the win, they remained five games back of the Cubs in the loss column with 23 left to play in the race for the second wild-card spot. On this day, Mickey Callaway used Seth Lugo for two innings of scoreless relief, unlike Tuesday when Lugo did not come out for the ninth inning and could only watch as the Nationals scored seven runs in the bottom of the ninth to shock the Mets, making them losers for the first time in 807 games in which they held a six-run lead in the ninth inning or later.
Callaway smartly opted to speak to the team before Wednesday’s game just to make sure the Mets were not suffering a severe hangover from their worst loss ever.
The meeting went well — the Mets know they have to pull together if they have any hope of a miracle finish, and in the end, venerable pitching coach Phil Regan left the players laughing as they took the field.
At 82 years young, Regan told the players he needs the playoff money, telling players who are in their 20s, “I got a life to live.’’
“You got to make them laugh,’’ Regan told The Post on his way out the door as the Mets headed home for a day off before facing the Phillies for three games at Citi Field.
The Mets got home runs from Juan Lagares, only his third of the season, Robinson Cano, in his comeback game, and another titanic blast from Pete Alonso, the 45th and league-leading of his rookie season.
Alonso put the Mets’ mindset into perspective, saying to make the playoffs, they must keep winning.
“But in order to win,’’ he said, “we have to keep paying attention to details. This was a really awesome road trip for us. Taking two series on the road against really tough, in-division teams, that says a lot about the character of this club. We’re going to keep on pushing forward and that’s the only option.
“It’s unfortunate,’’ Alonso said of Terrible Tuesday. “We win and lose as a team, and what we wanted to do today was just pick back up. We’re extremely together. We battle and we have each other’s back and I think that’s been the key for us all year. We’ve come so far and we are just going to keep pushing forward. Keep pushing each other.’’
The big problem remains everyone in the bullpen not named Lugo or Justin Wilson.
Edwin Diaz remains a nightmare, as does Jeurys Familia, who was given a safe-space outing Wednesday, but promptly gave up two hits, two walks and three runs while getting only two outs and turning a 7-1 game into a 7-4 affair.
Familia’s ERA is 6.43. Diaz’s is at 5.65 with a 1-7 record. Those seven losses have all been stake-to-the-heart losses.
Lugo again saved the day for Callaway. And on this day, Callaway did not let Diaz get in the way.
“For us to get where we want to go,’’ Callaway said, “everybody has to perform. From now on. It’s just what you have to do. It seems like we have the talent to do that, we just have to go do that.’’
And jump over four teams to pass the Cubs.
Even Diaz.
“Yep, he’s got to perform,’’ Callaway said. “If we had a game tomorrow, he would have to come in and get some big outs because Lugo threw two today.’’
Luckily, no game Thursday.
Let the roller-coaster ride continue.
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