Nothing Comes Easy: Mets 9, Nationals 7

Whatever. It took 80 pitches and seven relievers to record the final twelve outs of the game. It certainly wasn't pretty, but with the Mets having dropped three in a row and the Phillies and Brewers also winning tonight, the beggars can't be choosers at this point in the season.

Hat tip to Brandon Knight for picking up his first big league win. He had basically given up on baseball before this season, but gave it one last crack and now has an Olympic bronze medal and a tick in the "W" category at Baseball-Reference.com, which is more than most of us can say.

Laughable moment of the night: I'm not going to name names (a tiny bit of research will turn it up), but someone in the game thread actually went so far as to accuse Carlos Beltran of compiling stats (however that became a pejorative is beyond me) in a "blowout" when he hit a two-run homer when the Mets were up 4-1. Some prescient person suggested that 4-1 could hardly be considered a blowout given the state of the Mets' bullpen.

Johan Santana goes tomorrow, so the Mets could salvage this series yet.

Big winners: Jose Reyes, +16.6% WPA, Carlos Beltran, +14.1% WPA
Big losers: Aaron Heilman, -10.4% WPA, David Wright, -6.4% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Murphy RBI triple in 3rd, +11.4% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Casto RBI double in 2nd, -11.7% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +7.8%
Total batter WPA: +42.2%
GWRBI: Nobody (Marlon Anderson drove in the eighth run on a GIDP)

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by LOUtheMETSfan; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.