If there was ever any doubt of whether or not Jeurys Familia was the same pitcher after his last outing on Wednesday night at Citi Field, those concerns have been erased. Just 24 hours ago, someone started a rumor that Familia has been suffering from a dead arm.
On Wednesday night, as many of you may recall, it was Familia who gave up a huge three-run homer to Freddie Freeman that broke a 3-3 tie in the ninth inning.
Last night, it took Familia just eight pitches to close out the ninth and earn his 42nd save of the season. Seven of those pitches were sinkers that had an average speed of 96.7 mph. One was a slider at 88.4 mph. He struck out one batter.
Familia’s save put him just one away from the Mets club record of 43 set by Armando Benitez back in 2001. The last time anybody was close to tying the record was when Billy Wagner recorded 41 saves back in 2006.
The win gave the Mets their 86th of the season. It also helped shrink their magic number down to just three with the Nationals also losing. They now own a 7.5 game lead with just nine games left to play, and you can just about taste it now.
Prior to Wednesday night’s brutal 9th inning, Familia had allowed just one earned run in his last 25.0 innings dating back to July 31st. Freeman’s homerun was the first Familia had given up since that infamous homerun to Justin Upton back on July 30th.
What we saw last night was vintage Familia. He attacked the hitters, didn’t mess around, and made quick work of the three batters he faced. He also in the meantime silenced all the naysayers and detractors who were spouting off and saying he had lost a little bit of his mojo.
It would be so fitting if Familia could set the saves record on the same night the Mets clinch the NL East. How sweet would that be? After all, you could make a strong case that Familia has been this team’s MVP.
