In yesterday’s thrilling 8-5 win over the Nationals, David Wright came through with a clutch RBI single in the 7th inning against Washington’s reliever Casey Janssen The hit broke the game’s 5-5 tie, and it provided the Mets a lead that they wouldn’t relinquish.
He then scored on a close play at home later that inning on a RBI double off the bat of Yoenis Cespedes, which caused him to dramatically pump his fist in the air in celebration.
“What a game,” Wright exclaimed. “What a game. You get to one of the best pitchers in baseball, then fall behind, but continue to grind it out, then tack on some runs late… That’s what great teams do. We played an excellent game today.”
“Sometimes you just gotta let it out,” said Terry Collins, whose own postgame smile rivaled his captain’s. “Good for David.” (Mike Vaccaro, NY Post)
While Wright has not reached the playoffs in almost ten years, all of the losing he’s endured has made the Mets’ captain even more determined than ever to fight his way back into the postseason.
“You go through it in 2006 and 2007 and 2008, and you kind of believe that’s going to be the standard,” Wright said. “I don’t think you truly appreciate it until you go through some of the years we’ve been through and understand how much more fun it is coming to the ballpark when you’re playing these types of games as opposed to kind of just playing out the schedule. I think that’s something maybe I took for granted those years that I don’t take for granted anymore. I’m going to enjoy this.” (Adam Rubin, ESPN NY)
He has clearly played with a tremendous amount of intensity and passion ever since returning from the disabled list, which is fantastic to see. He’s also quieted a lot of his critics who questioned his ability following his back injury that kept him out for most of the season and even threatened his career.
He’s now batting .309 on the year with two home runs and a OBP near.400 in 81at-bats.
The division race may not be over yet, but it’s looking more and more likely that Wright and the Mets will be making their long awaited return to October. The Mets have beaten the Nationals in four consecutive games and have increased their lead to five games over their heated rivals.
Wright believes that they aren’t going to back down anytime soon.
“I’ve been talking about how resilient this team is,” Wright said. “So it’s nice to answer after a tough loss yesterday. From here on out, I think every game is going to be the biggest game of the year. So it’s nice to win. We need to move on and look forward to tomorrow. We’ve got a pretty good shot to win this one [Tuesday] with an angry Matt Harvey on the hill.”
