Final Score: Mets 5, Nationals 2—First Place, Nat-urally

Cheers of "We want first place" from the raucous Citi Field faithful were heeded on the field tonight.  Noah Syndergaard shone in the national spotlight while a home run parade in the third inning provided the runs for the evening.  Yes, folks, it's true—the Mets have a share of first place in August for the first time since 2008.

Syndergaard (W, 6-5) was dominant, striking out nine in eight innings while scattering 7 hits and walking none.  He did surrender two solo home runs, but regularly hit 99 on the gun and generally displayed command and poise which belie the fact this was only his 15th major league start.

New York's long balls in the third inning all came with two outs, and in a span of five pitches.  Curtis Granderson whalloped a two-run homer to stake the Mets to a 2-1 lead, and Daniel Murphy made it back-to-back with a 426-foot bomb way up in the upper deck.  Two batters later, Lucas Duda continued his historically impressive home run streak with a two run-job to make it nine home runs in his last eight games—he's only the third player in the last decade to accomplish that feat, and the first in team history.

Tyler Clipper closed the game against his former team to earn his first save as a Met, one that he or any Met fan watching is unlikely to forget anytime soon given the atmosphere and significance of the occasion.

You can further revel in tonight's awesomeness and permanize your memory with a full recap here.

GameThread Roll Call

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