NEW YORK – If the Mets make the playoffs – and it looks more and more likely that they will – the Nationals will have played a major role in making that happen.
While the teams don’t play as many intra-division games as they once did, they still face each other 13 times a year, and the results of those games can have a big impact on deciding the championship.
In the case of the National League Wild Card race between the Mets and the Braves, this is certainly the case, as the Nats’ results in a head-to-head comparison with these two rivals were completely different.
Today’s 10-0 loss at Citi Field capped off a season-long loss to the Mets. The Nationals finished the season with a miserable 2-11 record, including 0-6 on the road. Compare that to their impressive 8-5 record against Atlanta, and it’s easy to see how New York built a two-game lead to clinch the final postseason spot with 10 games to go.
“We talk all the time about playing in our division,” manager Davey Martinez said. “We’ve played really well against some teams in our division. We haven’t played well against some teams. We’ve got to get better against the teams we don’t play well against.”
The Nats played the Mets hard at times, with three of their losses coming in overtime, including the first game of the series on Monday night. Then came the final two games, which were as one-sided as they come. Tuesday’s 10-1 loss was tough to watch. This one was somehow even tougher.
That’s probably because the entire contest was decided during a single 10-batter stretch in the bottom of the fourth inning, when New York scored nine runs and managed just one out, knocking DJ Herz out of the game and putting a major damper on the rookie’s promising September.
“He’s been pretty good, so we’re not going to beat him up too much,” Martinez said. “But we want him to learn from his mistakes so that the next time he goes out, if something goes wrong, he’ll learn that he can take things slower and get to the next pitch.”
Herz had looked good in his first three innings, allowing one hit and one walk and striking out four batters, including all three batters he faced in the third inning. When he entered the mound in the bottom of the fourth inning, his ERA in 83 1/3 big league innings was a remarkable 3.56.
By the time the inning ended and Herz watched from the bench as Jacob Barnes added fuel to the fire, his ERA had shot up to 4.30.
“I’m going to try to finish as well as I can,” said Herz, who is scheduled to start again (Wednesday against the Royals). “It all starts with just coming forward, attacking the zone and being relentless. And then everything will go the way it’s supposed to.”
In his 18 starts since being promoted from Triple-A Rochester in June, Herz has shown the ability to overwhelm opposing lineups with a deadly combination of high fastballs and low changeups. He’s also shown a tendency to occasionally freak out when things aren’t quite right.
That was the case during tonight’s nightmarish fourth inning. It started, as it should, with a leadoff walk. Then came a single, an RBI double and a two-run single before Herz got his first out of the inning. He couldn’t get another one. The Mets’ last three batters against him managed a walk, a single that brought home a run and another single.
“I think I attacked the zone (in the first three innings). I had the lead,” Herz said. “In the fourth inning, they did a really good job with two strikes. They got me.”
Martinez went to the mound and took the ball from his rookie starter, who had thrown 35 pitches in that inning alone, and handed it to Barnes with the task of keeping the bases loaded with just one out on the board. Barnes got all three runners taken on, plus two of his own, thanks to Starling Marte’s bases-loaded single and Brandon Nimmo’s massive three-run home run to right-center field that completed the nine-run assault.
“It felt like everything was speeding up for him,” Martinez said of Herz. “I saw him getting a little frustrated, so we got him out of there. His pitch count went up, too. He just couldn’t get hitters down.”
That probably didn’t matter given the overwhelming deficit, but the Nationals did nothing at the plate to make it a game. After allowing just one run each on Monday and Tuesday night, they were stopped by a familiar foe, Jose Quintana.
The New York left-hander entered this game having thrown 14 scoreless innings in two previous starts against the Nats this season. He extended that streak of zeroes tonight to 21 (the most by any opposing pitcher in team history) and allowed only one runner to even get into scoring position: Dylan Crews, who stole second and third base in the first inning but was stuck there when Juan Yepez grounded out in the bottom of the inning.
“We hit his fastballs late,” Martinez said. “I don’t know if it’s the movement or if we’re looking for something else. We just didn’t hit the fastball.”
The at-bats became faster and less productive as the night went on. Quintana allowed one more hit (a single by CJ Abrams in the third). Then he allowed another baserunner (a walk by Drew Millas in the fifth).
That left the crowd at Citi Field with plenty of time to cheer, watch the scoreboard and think ahead to an October that’s slowly creeping up – thanks in large part to the team they’ve beaten 11 times in 13 games this season.
“The most important thing we can learn from this is that we have to go out there and play the ball the right way, the right way,” infielder Ildemaro Vargas said through interpreter Octavio Martinez. “Go out there and win right from the start. I think at this level, that’s the most important thing: Go out there, compete and win these games. I know there’s a lot of talent here and I think we’ll definitely improve. I think that’s something we’ll definitely get better at next season and learn from these experiences.”
