Baseball is such a great sport. There is something for everyone, offense, defense, strategy, statistics, history and pitching. I’ll take a well pitched game over a slugfest any day. When you look at the Washington Nationals starting rotation, you just got to love what you see: Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez (one of my favorites), Jordan Zimmermann, and Dan Haren. This is a team with the potential go on a super long winning streak. Looking at this series, we knew Friday night’s Stephen Strasburg vs. Matt Harvey game was going to memorable, then looking at Saturday & Sunday, the Nats had the edge in the pitching match-up. But the Mets were better, taking two of three which is why you have to play the games. Nobody ever wins anything on paper. Here are the 3 & 3 from the series.

Matt-tastic: On Friday night Matt Harvey was yet again spot on, raising his record to 4-0. Harvey gave up one run, and struck out seven, in 7.0 innings of work, besting Stephen Strasburg. The atmosphere at Citi Field was electric on Friday with the fans chanting “Harvey’s Better!” You got to love it. I said it before and it bears repeating – Matt Harvey’s starts are Must See TV.

Duda & Davis Duplicate Dingers: Lucas Duda and Ike Davis both went yard in Friday night’s win not once, but twice! It makes you want to dream about how awesome life would be if they just did that on a more regular basis. Especially Davis who is still struggling and whiffed three times the very next day.

Gee Gets An “A”: In the last 3&3 we got on Dillon Gee, so we’re more than happy to bump him up here, for his great start on Sunday afternoon. When the Mets needed a guy step up, Dillon did just that, tossing 5.2 shutout innings in the Mets 2-0 win over the Nats. Keep up the good work Dillon.

Another Laff-able Outing: Aaron Laffey, we hardly knew ye  After blowing the Mets lead on Saturday afternoon after coming out of the bullpen, the Mets finally had enough of Laffey and designated him for assignment. The Mets recalled Robert Carson to replace him and we hope he proves to be an upgrade. As we mentioned last time out, Laffey has looked overmatched during his short tenure with the Mets. Good luck to him.

No Washington Leadership: Not our elected officials, but on the field for the Nats. Watching Gio Gonzalez struggle Saturday afternoon, I kept waiting for one of the infielders to talk to him, and try to calm him down. It didn’t happen. The great 1986 team that Davey Johnson managed had two on-field leaders with Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter. In recent times we’ve seen David Wright go to the mound and get on big Mike Pelfrey and even Jon Niese. I just don’t understand why Adam LaRoche didn’t try to break the funk Gonzales was in. It worked out great for the Mets though.

Dodger Danger: A struggling L.A. Dodger team comes into Citi Field this week. It seems to me that struggling teams get healthy fast against the Mets. Let’s hope that’s not the case this time. Here’s to seeing the Mets kick the Dodgers while they are down.

It was a great weekend series for the Mets, taking two of three, especially after being swept in Denver. Until next time, Lets Go Mets!!!

The New York Mets (9-8) bounced back from a disappointing 7-6 loss to the Washington Nationals on Saturday, and took the series with a convincing 2-0 win this afternoon at Citi Field. The team is once again, a game over .500 for the year.

Dillon Gee bounced back from a couple of brutal starts and tossed 5.2 innings, allowing just three hits and three walks while striking out six. All three walks came in the sixth inning, when Terry Collins called for LaTroy Hawkins to come in and get the last out of the inning.

This was by no means a dominating start for Gee, but it was certainly an improvement and a step in the right direction. One thing Gee did well was use his changeup very effectively, and he definitely had it working today. We’ll need to see more efforts like this from Gee before we can sit back and relax. I like Gee, but to me he is a solid number five pitcher who the Mets have slotted in the three slot.

The Mets got on the board in the second inning thanks to a 450 foot blast by John Buck of Nats starter Jordan Zimmermann. The Mets catcher launched a solo shot into the second deck in left field, otherwise known as “no-man’s-land” – or as Gary Cohen called it, “Bryce Harper Territory.”

Mike Baxter plated the second run when he lifted one to center field to score David Wright on the sac-fly in the fourth.

Starting Lineup

1. Jordany Valdespin – CF
2. Daniel Murphy – 2B
3. David Wright – 3B
4. Ike Davis – 1B
5. John Buck – C
6. Lucas Duda – LF
7. Mike Baxter – RF
8. Ruben Tejada – SS
9. Dillon Gee – RHP

Game Notes

John Buck drove in his 21st run yesterday. Twelve other Mets have finished April with at least 20 RBI, with Jeff Kent holding the franchise record of 26. Buck is tied for the major league lead with 21 RBI with Baltimore’s Chris Davis and is also tied for fifth in the
majors with six home runs.

The Mets have scored 97 runs in their first 16 games (6.1 runs per game). The 97 runs are tied for the most the Mets have scored after 16 games in any season. The 2007 Mets scored 97 runs after the first 16 contests of the year. The 97 runs are third-most in the majors behind Colorado (100) and Oakland (99).

David Wright is tied for the major league lead with three triples after collecting his third triple of the year yesterday. The three triples are already tied for the second -most of his career. Wright had a career-high five triples in 2006.

The first 25, 000 fans attending today’s game will receive a Ron Darling bobblehead presented by Citi. Darling’s bobblehead is the first in a season-long promotion highlighting iconic Mets All-Stars.

Game Preview

The Mets and Nationals find themselves in a rubber game this afternoon as the Mets look to rebound from yesterday’s 7-6 loss. After a phenomenal start on Friday, the Mets pitching could not repeat which put the Mets offense in a tight position.Gee looks to get back on the right track today as he takes on Jordan Zimmermann.

Gee is 0-3 this season in as many starts with a 8.36 ERA over 14 innings of work. Looking closer at his stats, he started off with a 6.1 inning performance where he allowed one run, followed by 7 ER over 3 innings and then 5 ER in 4.2 innings. In one start against the Nationals last year, he allowed 4 runs, 3 earned over 8 hits in a 5.1 inning start. The Nationals have the following numbers against Gee:

Werth 5-15, 2B
Desmond 4-15, 2 HR
Espinosa 1-11
LaRoche 0-6
Suzuki 0-2

The Mets bats get to rip apart Jordarn Zimmermann today who is 3-0 this season with a 2.45 ERA over 22.0 innings. Last year he was very good against the Mets with a 1-0 record over 4 games and 23.0 innings with the Mets where he posted a 1.96 ERA. The Mets have the following numbers against Jordan:

Wright 9-27, 2 2B, 2 HR
Murphy 7-21, 2 2B, HR
Davis 3-13, 2B, HR
Tejada 5-13,
Buck 3 -11, 2 2B
Duda 2-11, 2B
Valdespin 1-4, HR

Let’s Go Mets!

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