There was some excitement when the Mets stopped the Washington Nationals in their tracks on Sunday. The victory was a little difficult to predict considering how strong Washington had appeared in previous games. The betting odds from major sportsbooks did not seem to favor the Mets, and for good reason.
Though, the Mets were on the upswing by the time the Nationals arrived in Flushing. The skepticism of some of their fans was to be expected. After all, they had lost Cabrera and Josh Smoker to injuries, not to mention the anxiety surrounding Neil Walker and Juan Lagares.
But the Mets had still managed to bring their 12-game deficit down considerably. It is difficult to imagine that the Nationals were feeling the heat as the weekend came to an end, even considering the 5-1victory that Jacob deGrom had delivered towards the end there.
The Mets did win but, for most fans, it was mostly an issue of saving face. The Nationals were obviously prevented from achieving a sweep of the 4-game series but the weekend still ended with the Mets behind the Nationals by two games. Those were two games further behind than the Mets had been before that point, and it was hardly the net effect the team was looking for.
Of course, the fact that the game ended the Mets’ run of futility against their main rivals is something to celebrate. Manager Terry Collins described it as a gut punch, and he admitted that the team had been taking quite a few of those in recent times.
Terry admitted that there was a risk of the team falling so low that they could start wallowing in self-pity. But Terry emphasized his determination to push his players to bounce back. His optimism lay in the potential the Mets had to bounce back in the second half of the season.
The win definitely lightened the load somewhat despite some of the negative connotations attached, and the Mets must find a way to deliver the same result when they face the Los Angeles Dodgers who are undoubtedly stronger seeing as they have taken nine victories in their last ten games.
Pitchers Max Scherzer and Gio Gonzalez were a handful, not to mention Stephen Strasburg. Clayton Kershaw will probably present even more of a challenge during the Monday Series Opener.
All eyes will be on DeGrom seeing as he delivered the game’s only home run. It could also be argued that he was solely responsible for keeping the Nationals in the Ballpark on Sunday, this after Mets Pitchers did a lackluster job and allowed a less than appealing number of home runs in the series’ first three games.
Interestingly enough, deGrom’s home run was hit with a bat he had taken from David Wright, and he suggested that it was a decent enough bunting bat that he might hold onto it for a while.
DeGrome’s best performance of the season so far was delivered during the Victory over the Cubs last Monday. His performance against the Nationals was nearly as impressive. But the Mets will be looking to him to astound the Dodgers when the time comes. DeGrome has definitely improved, and he attributes this to the increase in the use of his changeup.
