Final Score: Mets 7, Nationals 1 — MATTITUDE defeats NATITUDE

On Friday evening, Matt Harvey and Stephen Strasburg matched up in a game that was hyped as a duel of two young, standout pitchers who happen to play for division rivals. Well, this game undoubtedly lived up to the hype – especially on the Mets' side. Harvey was mostly dominant over seven innings, outdueling Strasburg and shutting down a potent Nats lineup en route to a 7-1 Mets victory. In addition to Harvey's dominance, Lucas Duda and Ike Davis each launched a pair of long home runs, the second blasts for each ultimately putting the game out of reach.

Harvey opened the game with a 3-pitch strikeout of Denard Span and his fastball registered impressive 97, 98, and 99 MPH velocity on a number of pitches throughout the inning. On a night when Mets fans gleefully screamed chants of "Harvey's better" towards the Nats' ace, the most trouble Harvey ran into came in the seventh inning. Starting to run out of gas, Harvey loaded the bases with nobody out after the Nats plated their first run. As impressive as Harvey's been so far, what followed may've been his most impressive showing yet: he struck out Kurt Suzuki for the first out, got pinch hitter Roger Bernadina to pop out to John Buck for out number two, and then coaxed an easy groundball to second base to retire Denard Span and immediately stop the bleeding.

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by MetsFan4Decades; her effort in the game thread embiggens us all.