Game #8: Mets 8, Nationals 4

First baseman Ike Davis (29) drove in David Wright and Carlos Beltran with a triple to right-center field in the sixth to give the Mets a 5-4 lead Saturday. Davis scored when the next batter, pinch hitter Daniel Murphy, singled to left. (NYTimes.com)

By far, this was the most satisfying win of the young season.

Carlos Beltran broke out for 2 home runs and Ike Davis put the orange and blue up for good in the sixth, delivering the Mets their first home win of the season: an 8-4 triumph over Washington in front of 31,696 NY faithful.

The Good Stuff:
It's a rarity, but just about everything that could go right did go right for the Mets today. Here's the highlights:
Beltran had his first great game of 2011, going 2-4 with 2 round-trippers: a 2-run bomb in the 1st and a solo shot in the 4th, both right-handed. Carlos finally showed flashes of why we gave him $119 million back in 2005. The incredible 2006 Beltran is probably no more, but if we can get '07 or '08 Beltran, it'll go a long way to contending for the Wild Card.
Ike Davis got back on a role, coming through in the clutch with a beautifully-sliced 2-run triple in the 6th, which finally got the best of Nationals' starter Tom Gorzelanny. Jose Reyes then put it away with a 2-run double in the 8th.
The bullpen did its job in a fine way: 3 innings of relief from Taylor Buchholz, Bobby Parnell, and Francisco Rodriguez. K-Rod walked a couple Nats, but managed to keep it together to pick up his first save of the year.

The Bad Stuff:
Starter Chris Capuano got the win, but he had a hard time of it: 4 runs in 6 innings. Not necessarily bad, just not stellar. I guess that's what to expect from the 5th man in the rotation.
While the rest of the offense was on, David Wright struggled to find his rhythm: 0-3 with 2 strikeouts. I know he's going to be a big strikeout guy, but you think he could fare better against the one team that will certainly finish below us in the NL East.

Final Analysis:
This game had it all: great offense and a comeback all rolled into home victory number one. The Amazin's three game losing streak seems a distant memory. Okay, we're only 4-4 and still two games behind the Phillies and one behind the Marlins. But 4-4 is better than 3-5, right? See what I'm doing here, I'm going for optimism. The great thing about baseball: even if a team wins only 75 games, their fans still experience the thrill of victory about 7 times as often as a good football team's fans do. If you take it one game at a time, as I intend to, there can still be a lot of enjoyment in these difficult times. Tonight, we won. Life is good. Sleep well, Mets nation.

MM