The Mets ended the first half on a sour note by dropping three of four against Washington after falling, 3-2, on Sunday afternoon at Citi Field.
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“We are glad to have Murph here”, said Gonzalez about the Nationals signing of Daniel Murphy during the off-season.
“That guy’s the real deal. But when you get him in certain counts where he’s looking to pull, he’s now risky, because he can hit a homer”. We’re giving him balls to hit.
Oliver Perez and Blake Treinen combined to escape an eighth-inning jam, and Washington extended its NL East lead to four games over the Mets after dropping the opener of the four-game set Thursday.
Kimbrel later was replaced on the AL All-Star team by Toronto’s Aaron Sanchez in a move made by AL Manager Ned Yost of Kansas City.
“Carry it? No, no, no”, he said. “The list is too many”. Murphy’s homer was his 17th of the season, his second in as many games and his third of this series.
“I don’t think it’s just against us”.
Matz (7-5) was largely solid other than Murphy’s two-run shot. He’s dominated the Mets all season long, drilling seven home runs with 21 RBIs.
“Everything for me is starting to come together”, Reyes said, “And now I’m going to have four days off. For me, I don’t want that right now”.
If there’s any consolation for Collins, he’ll soon have Murphy back on his side, albeit for just a day – Collins is guiding the NL team in the All-Star Game on Tuesday night in San Diego, and Murphy is on the squad.
They even tied the 1994 Montreal Expos (54) for the most wins in the all-time franchise history.
“Very pleased with the first half we had”, said first-year Nationals manager Dusty Baker. “When you’ve got a great pitcher on the mound, if you can get him, you better get him early”.
Roark responded by retiring all seven batters he faced over 2 1/3 scoreless innings, bridging the gap to the back end of the Nationals bullpen.
Jonathan Papelbon then pitched the ninth to finish it off, notching his 19th save in 21 opportunities.
Steven Matz (7-5) fell to 0-4 in his last eight starts.
Murphy delivered again in the fifth, hitting an RBI double to center field to put Washington up, 4-1.
It took Murphy less than two months to go from valued ex-player to villain at his former home. The Mets have been decimated by injuries and every time they see Murphy he reminds them of what they allowed to get away.
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Many more have made the playoffs but, according to Fangraphs, the Mets have just a 39 percent chance at making the postseason this year, a steep drop-off from their chances before the series against Washington began (69.1 percent), and any path to the playoffs likely goes through the wild card. He managed to make at least one new fan, however after chasing down a popup that landed in foul territory, he pointed to a young person in the stands and tossed the souvenir that way. Collins said it was unlikely the slugger would’ve been able to pinch-hit…. The pitcher stayed in and got Travis d’Arnaud on a liner to left. “Lined out to third”, he remembered. The Dodgers and Padres later visit Washington. The pitching has carried the Mets for the past two years, but it appears that the Mets defenses are slowly falling and they will need to find a way to scratch across wins in the meantime as they now have something to rally around going into the crucial second half of the season. RHP Noah Syndergaard, who left his last start with arm fatigue, will pitch at the back end of the rotation coming out of the break, Collins said.
