Red-Hot Mets Make NL East Statement with Sweep of Nationals

You don't win divisions or cement postseason berths in early August. But you can make statements—and the New York Mets just made one—loud and clear.

With a 5-2 victory over the Washington Nationals at Citi Field on Sunday, the Mets secured a sweep of the Nats.

They also moved into a tie for first place in the National League East. That may not seem terribly momentous, considering how much baseball remains. But according to the Elias Sports Bureau (via ESPN Stats & Information), the last time the Mets sat atop the division this late in the season was 2008.

The last time New York made the playoffs? That'd be 2006, which was so long ago that there was no such thing as an iPhone.

OK, so the Mets aren't in the midst of a generation-spanning dry spell. But it's been a while since the Queens faithful had reason to cheer.

Kathy Willens/Associated Press

They were on their feet applauding Sunday as rookie right-hander Noah Syndergaard exited after eight stellar frames. The kid they call Thor was godlike against the Nationals, striking out nine and surrendering just two runs on a pair of solo homers.

Syndergaard lowered his ERA to 2.66 and strengthened his NL Rookie of the Year case, continuing a sterling run by Mets starters. Matt Harvey allowed one run in 7.2 innings Friday, and Jacob deGrom yielded two runs in six innings Saturday.

But maybe the Mets' biggest story Sunday was the bats, which banged out a trio of home runs, all in the third inning.

First, with one on and two out, Curtis Granderson launched a two-run blast. Daniel Murphy followed with a back-to-back solo shot, and two batters later, Lucas Duda hit a two-run tater of his own.

That's a big deal for a club that entered play Sunday dead last in MLB in runs scored. 

New York went out at the deadline and got Cuban slugger Yoenis Cespedes from the Detroit Tigers. And Cespedes chipped in with a hit and a run scored in his second game in the blue and orange, living up to the title of "shiny rental car" that the New York Times' Tyler Kepner slapped on him.

The Mets' other offensive acquisitions, Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson, have also kicked in since coming over from the Atlanta Braves.

Kathy Willens/Associated Press/Associated Press

In a way, though, it was better that the thump came from hitters who've been with the team all along. It suggests that this feckless Mets lineup could find a way to be, if not world-beaters, at least competent enough to support the superlative pitching.

Duda, in particular, has picked it up. After a monthlong slump that saw his OPS plummet 109 points between June 20 and July 24, Duda has hit nine home runs over his last eight games.

"You could see the look in his eye," skipper Terry Collins said Saturday after Duda hit a pair of home runs and a go-ahead RBI double in the Mets' 3-2 victory, per MLB.com's Anthony DiComo. "You could just tell."

The whole team had that look over the weekend against Washington. The Mets have gone only 8-8 since the All-Star break. But the Nats, which have dropped seven of their last 10, have done nothing to gain separation.

Now, rather than settling for a crowded wild-card race that features the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs in the NL Central and the defending champion San Francisco Giants in the NL West, the Mets can set their sights on winning the division outright.

New York and Washington will meet six more times, including a three-game set at Citi Field to close out the season.

Those contests could decide a division that virtually every preseason prognosticator, including ESPN experts, handed to the Nationals. That's why they play the games, to recycle the cliche.

However this all plays out, it's time to retire "lolMets," as ESPN.com's Keith Law opined:

So what is the opposite of lolMets? How about a resounding sweep of the team that was supposed to leave you in the dust and an unambiguous early-August statement.

The Mets have spoken, and the baseball world is listening.

All statistics current as of August 2 and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.