Biggest Takeaways for New York Mets Following Home Opener Series

If you want takeaways from the New York Mets' season so far, Tuesday’s victory over the Philadelphia Phillies had a little bit of everything for you.

And now, after another win on Thursday, the Mets are tied with the Braves for the best record in the NL East. It's way too early to celebrate, but it's still worth noting. On Wednesday, 39,000 fans in attendance (which, this time, didn’t include celebrities like Jerry Seinfeld, Larry David, Matthew Broderick or new “Daily Show” host Trevor Noah—all of whom were at the home opener the night before) watched the return of ace pitcher Matt Harvey. 

It marked Harvey’s first start at Citi Field in 598 days, since August 24, 2013. In that time, the Mets added a new scoreboard (62 percent percent larger than the original screen) and once again moved in the outfield fences—this time between three and eleven feet closer to home plate.

In his Citi Field re-debut, Harvey’s fastball hit between 97 and 99 miles per hour. The Dark Knight didn’t record any walks, struck out eight and earned his second victory of the season in his return to Gotham.

Kathy Kmonicek/Associated Press/Associated Press

Early in the game on Tuesday, first baseman Lucas Duda hit a three-run double. Duda improved his batting average to .353 with a .964 OPS through nine games on Wednesday, when he hit his first home run of the season and added an RBI double—his third in two games. He, too, looks poised to continue off his 2014 success.

Curtis Granderson, the veteran outfielder who had an impressive spring, was able to record his second and third hits of an otherwise sluggish season on Tuesday. Then, he added two more on Wednesday. Perhaps he is starting to turn things around.

Unusual circumstance and injury, however, damaged the entire mood of Harvey’s return. 

"This was a bizarre night," Mets manager Terry Collins, who was ejected for arguing a catcher’s interference call,  told the Associated Press (via ESPN.com). Earlier in the game, he also appeared frustrated after requesting a replay challenge too late.   

Then, injuries began once Phillies pitcher David Buchanan struck infielder Wilmer Flores and outfielder Michael Cuddyer with pitches in the fifth inning. A bruised hand forced Cuddyer to leave the game.

"This is as eventful a game as I've ever seen,” Cuddyer said. “It had a little bit of everything.” Cuddyer would return to the lineup against the Phillies on Wednesday, while Flores was replaced by infielder Ruben Tejada.  

Meanwhile, in the eighth inning, the real story of the day came when Mets star infielder and captain David Wright suffered a sore hamstring after successfully stealing a base. 

"The last thing I want to do is go out there and do what I did a couple of years ago,” Wright said, according to ESPN.com. “Where I feel something, you don't say anything, you try to play through it and you end up missing a significant amount of time rather than something that's relatively shorter.”

Kathy Willens/Associated Press

While he briefly fought the pain and stayed in the game, he requested to leave just five pitches later.

According to the New York Post, Mets minor leaguer Eric Campbell (not emerging prospect Matt Reynolds) was called up from the minors to replace Wright. Backup catcher Anthony Recker actually came in to play third in the ninth inning for the first time in his career as a replacement on Tuesday, though the ball was never hit his direction.

Jenrry Mejia, the preseason expected closer for the Mets, was unable to pitch and will be for quite some time. Mejia received an 80-game suspension for a violation of the MLB drug policy on April 12. Mejia, 25, became the fourth player suspended by the MLB after testing positive for Stanozolol since March 27. He hadn’t yet pitched this season due to injury. 

Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press

"We came into this whole thing in spring training with huge expectations and the back end of our bullpen being very, very strong,” Mets coach Terry Collins said, via ESPNNewYork.com. “We'll have to regroup and get through the next 80 games with somebody else."

When Jeurys Familia came in to pitch instead on Tuesday, he gave up a home run in the ninth inning. But otherwise, he got the job done and also recorded his third consecutive save for the Mets in as many days.

The combined Mets bullpen recorded a 3.14 ERA in 2014, which was the fourth best in the entire National League. Coming into the 2015 season, the bullpen looked like one of the biggest strengths of the team.

Mejia was a legitimate candidate to keep his role as closer in the bullpen—despite Bobby Parnell’s imminent 2015 return. 

Kathy Willens/Associated Press/Associated Press

The loss was a big one, especially early in the season, considering Parnell as well as reliever Vic Black both started off the season on the disabled list. According to ESPN’s Adam Rubin, though, both Parnell and Black began their rehab assignments in Class A St. Lucie on April 14—which officially begins their road back to the MLB.     

“I hope our bullpen is pitching so well there is not a spot for him. I hope he is not a factor,” Mets GM Sandy Alderson said, via NY Daily News. “It was a big mistake, but that’s not going to slow us down.”

When the Mets completed their sweep of the Phillies on Wednesday, matching their biggest win streak of 2014 with four games in a row, some may have just started to believe. It might be early. It might be chaotic. And it might not be pretty. But the Mets are winning games, and at this rate, it may just continue. 

"We're going to go through a lot more adversity this year,” Mets pitcher Jonathan Niese told ESPN.com. “This is just one speed bump in the road, and we're going to be able to get through it. We've got a good team."

Bryan Kalbrosky is a writer whose work has appeared in The Huffington Post, Yahoo! Sports, ESPN Denver and various other publications. For more of his work, follow him on Twitter @BryanKalbrosky.