Game #138: Mets 6, Nationals 3

Mike Nickeas greeted Josh Satin after Satin collected his first hit and scored his first run in the major leagues. (NYTimes.com)

A couple new faces and two big innings later, and New York had themselves another series victory.

Lucas Duda's solo homer opened up a 4-run 6th, and the Mets bullpen shut down the Nationals offense en route to a 6-3 win.

The Good Stuff:

• The Mets got their runs in bunches this afternoon. Ruben Tejada put two on the board in the 3rd with a single. Tejada made the start at shortstop after Jose Reyes was given the day off.
• Down 3-2 in the 6th, Lucas Duda continued his hot streak, launching a 2-0 change up over the tall wall in right center. Newly energized by Duda's most recent bomb, the team responded with back-to-back-to-back singles from David Wright, Angel Pagan, and Jason Bay to load the bases. After a pitching change, Willie Harris gave the team the lead for good with a 2-run single, and Mike Nickeas brought home another on a suicide squeeze bunt.
• The Mets banged out 11 hits, with every one of the starting 9 picking up at least one.
• The team also debuted a new face today. Hmm, let's see, what was his name again? Oh, I just don't know, could it be...SATIN??? Why yes, yes it was. 26-year-old Josh Satin, that is, who got his first career start at first base. The Mets' most recent demonic incarnation (the first being Tim Teufel - "devil" in German) went 1-2 and scored a run.
• Mike Pelfrey was shakey, but after his early departure (see Bad Stuff for more details), the bullpen came in and did a solid cleanup job. Ryota Igarashi got the last out of the 5th and picked up the W. Josh Stinson pitched two scoreless innings and Jason Isringhausen got through the 8th all right. Bobby Parnell shook off last night's debacle to pick up the save.

The Bad Stuff:

• This is that "Mike Pelfrey was shakey" section. Pelf allowed 3 runs on 5 hits in 4 2/3 innings, uncharacteristically walking 5, including 3 straight in the 5th that led to his departure.

Final Analysis:
A series win is a series win, and while it came within a blown save of a sweep, we'll still take it.

The win gives the Mets 8 Ws in their last 10 outings and brings them back to 2 games within .500. They'll look to ascend above that mark in their final visit to the old Florida Marlins' stadium (whatever they're calling it now). Then comes a makeup doubleheader against the Braves, then home series against the Cubs and Nationals. A good showing over this next week and a half could finally solidify a well-earned above-.500 finish for this unlikely team of overachievers.

MM