Any chance the Mets had to avoid a losing season were seemingly dashed when the Nationals’ Gio Gonzalez threw a first pitch strike to Eric Young Jr.. Young would go down swinging and Gonzalez would strikeout a career-high 12 batters as he held the Mets to just one hit in seven scoreless innings.
This Nationals team is pretty damn good, very young, and busting at the seams with high-end major league talent. They have a solid front office, a sharp manager with a coaching staff to match, and the Mets will have their hands full trying to contend with them in the next 5-7 years.
With the win, the Nationals reduced their magic number to clinch the best record in the National League to one. With the loss, the Mets clinched their sixth losing season in a row. Two teams on polar ends of the NL East spectrum.
Terry Collins and the Mets did go down swinging, going a valiant 12-9 in September, but it was a case of too little, too late.
“It was one of the things we were looking forward to, especially the way we played the last month,” Collins said about a .500 record. “As I told a lot of people: The teams that are in the hunt, their last month, their records are good. We were making a comeback. Now we’ll just worry about finishing strong.”
The Mets are now tied with the Houston Astros for baseball’s longest consecutive streak of losing seasons, and both teams will face each other to close out the last three games of the 2014 season.
They can still end their season with a second-place finish in the division. It would represent nothing more than a moral victory, but it could help shed the stigma of being perennial losers and perhaps set the tone for better days ahead. Let’s hope so.
