Game #56: Mets 10, Nationals 1

With all the runs New York wasn't scoring, you figured the pressure was building up and they were due to pop. The lid flew off tonight. Repeatedly.

(NYDailyNews.com)

Marlon Byrd socked two home runs to back Dillon Gee as the Mets got revenge for last night with a 10-1 thrashing of the Nationals.

The Good Stuff:

• Washington took an early 1-0 lead. It wouldn't last: Lucas Duda led off the 2nd with a double and Marlon Byrd's home run to center gave New York a lead they would build on. And build on, and build on, and build on.
• The first insurance run came in the 3rd on a (slump-busting?) solo homer from David Wright, then two batters later Byrd flew again with a rocket to left.
• And even 4-1 wasn't enough on this night: Anthony Recker came alive to drive in the next three runs - the first two came on a single in the 5th, while number three was plated on a 7th-inning double.
• The 7th would bear even more fruit, as Dillon Gee helped his own splendid cause with an RBI single, then Daniel Murphy doubled in a run put the Mets into double digits for the first time since Opening Day.
• Lost in all this, and the fact that every starter got a hit (even Ike Davis), is a stellar effort from Juan Legares, who led the orange and blue with three of the team's 15 hits.
• All the support was more than enough for Gee, who strung together his second straight great outing by allowing one run on nine hits in seven innings, walking one and striking out seven on 107 pitches.

The Bad Stuff:

• What, was it too much to spend a couple of those runs last night for Jeremy Hefner? I haven't gotten to say this often enough this year: Pace yourselves, guys!

Final Analysis:
And all of a sudden, the Mets have a rotation again. Hefner and Gee have established themselves as steady middle men for Matt Harvey and Jonathon Niese, who should come back this weekend. Once Zack Wheeler comes up, Shaun Marcum may be the one go to, and then the Amazin's will have the top-five NL rotation they envisioned in April.

I won't say much about the offense; every once in a while a blind squirrel finds a nut. Hopefully it breaks the slumps of Wright and Murphy, whose averages went back up to .276 and .290 respectively. Hopefully there are plenty more nuts in the future.

MM