Blowouts To The East, Blowouts To The West

You could say that this was the first day in a while that made some sort of cosmic sense. We’ve been waiting for the Braves to have some sort of regression, and they’ve lost their last three games including a 9-1 demolition at the hands of the Phillies which gave Mets fans a long awaited breather of sorts. The Braves hadn’t lost by more than four runs in a while, so to have the Phillies drub them early and often (including their whiny first baseman finally contributing something to society), took a lot of stress out of the the equation for Mets fans.

Not all of the stress, mind you.

Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil were in the lineup tonight, and in Nimmo’s case it was a pleasant surprise as he seemed to be actually injured as opposed to McNeil who just seemed banged up. After Mark Vientos drove in the first run of the game on a bloop single to right in the second, Nimmo scorched a single to center with the bases loaded to make it 3-0. The Mets haven’t gotten solid hits with the bases loaded recently, certainly not ones that bring in multiple runs. So it was a sight for sore eyes and a sign that the Mets were on their way to doing what they were supposed to do and put the A’s to bed early.

Chris Bassitt was clean and efficient, going eight innings and giving up two runs on six hits and a walk while throwing just 91 pitches against many of his former teammates. And once Eduardo Escobar smacked his first career grand slam in the fifth inning to put the game out of reach, everyone including Bassitt could basically spend the rest of the game making sure that the woman in the front row wasn’t going to rush the field and put a magic spell on Pete Alonso which causes him to gain 50 pounds every time he indulges in a Pancake Triple Play.

The Mets victory combined with the Padres loss clinches the Mets playoff position as no less than the first wild card, which means their first two playoff games will definitely be at Citi Field. But the Braves losing means that the Mets are 2.5 games clear of the field in the N.L. East with just ten games to go (11 for Atlanta.) This weekend is probably the last best chance to gain some more ground on Atlanta, and whether it’s one more or two more games that they pick up (and being up 4.5 games on Sunday night is a distinct possibility), any further gains they could make would go a long way in putting this division to bed.

But if that woman is going to show up in everyone’s nightmares from here on out, I’d sleep with one eye open.

Today’s Hate List

The Car Shield commercial that starts with a Thomas Paine quote.

If Thomas Paine thought that one of his quotes would be used in a car insurance commercial 250 years laster, he probably would have said “f**k it, just take the country back, England.”