Just Mets

The Mets scorched the Marlins by the score of 12-1 on Monday night in Miami. Here are my takeaways from the win…

There was no hangover.

The Mets came out with the same thunder they left New York with last night after they swept the Nationals at Citi Field.

They were relentless tonight, pounding Marlins starter Tom Koehler early and often, starting with Michael Conforto’s three run home run (the first of what will probably be many in his career), and capped by a four run fifth inning to knock him out thanks to Yoenis Cespedes two-run double, his second of the night, a run scoring double from Wilmer Flores, and an RBI groundout from Kelly Johnson.

The Mets tacked on three more in the sixth inning thanks to Cespedes’ third double of the night to plate two more runs. Then, he scored on a wild pitch to cap a splendid night for the newest Met. They weren’t finished there, however, as Granderson plated two more runs in the seventh

It was essential the Mets came out in this game firing on all cylinders. It would’ve been easy for them to play a tired and flat brand of baseball, but they know what they need to do, and that is to win at all costs. They did, and with authority.

A good start for Bart.

Right now, the Mets really need Bartolo Colon to not only lengthen the rotation, but lengthen it with quality. He hasn’t been very good since the end of April, throwing a lot of stinkers up there way too consistently. But two of his last three starts – including tonight – have been fantastic.

As long as he has that two-seamer, he can be effective into the middle-to-late stages of his outings, and tonight he had that and kept Miami off the board throughout the night. They’re going to need more of that to get to the playoffs, so hopefully he this was a start one more positive string of starts down the stretch this season.

Tons of runs!

It’s nice to have a big league offense capable of taking advantage of mediocre pitching, moving runners along, and making productive outs to move runners up and score runs.

That’s what the Mets offense does now. Sure, they had their share of extra-base hits and crooked numbers, and that’s a lot of fun, especially after watching what was really a minor league offense for three months. But there were also the little things such as the productive out by Kelly Johnson in the top of the fifth to plate Wilmer Flores. It doesn’t seem like a big deal in an outburst like this was, but it’s something the Mets simply were incapable of doing before, and something they’re going to have to do against the better teams in the league going forward.

Now they can because they have professional hitters installed in the lineup everyday.

The penthouse is not being shared.

Meet the Mets, who are in sole possession of first place.

They have roared to the top of the division with four straight wins, while the Nationals have lost four straight which promoted the Mets into first place in the National League East. It’s the latest in a season the Mets have been in sole possession of first place since September, 2008.

And it seems to be quite legit, too.

Who knows if it will last, but it’s a testament to their perseverence with a mostly uncompetitive offense for the last three months thanks to a ton of injuries and an awkward roster construction. They’ve hung in there, and they are owed a big round of applause for treading water through the trade deadline and getting to this point.

Other notes from Monday:

With his first inning single, Curtis Granderson extended his hitting streak to six games, and he’s now reached base in 18 straight games. He’s hitting .320 during that span.

Its the first time the Mets scored five or more runs in consecutive games since June 10-12 against the Giants and Braves.

Thanks to his three doubles, Cespedes now has 51 extra-base hits in 2015. He is the first Met to hit three doubles in a game since Scott Hairston did it on August 17, 2012 against the Nationals.

Cespedes is hitting .307 (35-for-114) with nine doubles, eight home runs and 22 RBI in his last 27 games.

Travis d’Arnaud had two doubles, his first two hits since returning from the disabled list.

Lucas Duda had a rough night, going 0-for-4 with four strikeouts.

The Mets are in sole possession of first place for the first time since June 19.