Murphy’s Law states that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. But when Daniel Murphy returned to Citi Field for the first time since joining the Nationals, everything went right. The Mets beat the Nationals, 2-0, Noah Syndergaard outdueled Max Scherzer, Murphy got a well-deserved standing ovation his first time up, and Squawker Lisa and I were there to see it all in person.
Murphy was also cheered when the Mets showed a video tribute to him before the start of the game. But when he came to bat the second time, the uniform took precedence over last year’s NLCS MVP, and Murphy got booed (though not by me).
With Lucas Duda and David Wright out of the lineup and Wilmer Flores on the disabled list, the lower part of the Mets’ lineup brought back bad memories of 2015’s pre-trade deadline offense. Eric Campbell hit sixth, followed by Kevin Plawecki, Syndergaard, and Matt Reynolds hitting ninth in his major-league debut. Congratulations, kid, you’re hitting behind the pitcher and your first at bats will be against a guy who struck out 20 last time out.
And once the Mets got back to the top of the lineup, there was Curtis Granderson and his .200 batting average. The only hope the Mets seemed to have against Scherzer was that he was tied for the league lead in homers allowed (with Jon Niese!), so maybe the Mets would hit one out.
As it turned out, it only took one batter – Granderson put the Mets on top for good with a leadoff homer. In the third, Michael Conforto, hitting .160 in May, hit another solo shot. That would be all Syndergaard needed, pitching seven scoreless innings, striking out 10 and giving up five hits and no walks.
Scherzer allowed only one other hit and struck out 10 in 6 1/3. That gave Scherzer 30 strikeouts in two games, tying Cleveland’s Corey Kluber for most among active pitchers. Kerry Wood holds the record with 33 in two games, including his 20-K game.
Scherzer was replaced by someone who will never get a video tribute at Citi Field – Oliver Perez. Alejandro De Aza pinch hit for Syndergaard. Thor was more productive in his previous game with two homers and four RBI than De Aza has been all season – one homer and one RBI in 41 at bats. Perez struck out De Aza.
It may not seem like a big deal to not have Wright or Duda or Travis d’Arnaud or Flores available. The latter two are hitting under .200. But when they are all unavailable, that puts a real strain on the Mets’ depth.
For all the talk about the Mets’ home run prowess (4th in MLB), the team is just 21st in MLB in runs scored. They are 23rd in batting average (all stats before tonight’s game). As of now, the Mets are still all about the pitching.
But with Bartolo Colon coming off a shaky outing in Los Angeles and Matt Harvey’s ERA almost 5, the Mets may have trouble keeping Murphy and his new mates in check the rest of the series. That’s why it was so important for Syndergaard to shut down the Nats and enable the Mets to take the opener. Now the Mets are just half a game out of first, thanks to the reverse of Murphy’s Law.
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