3 Up, 3 Down: Mets Wallop Washington

I love it when my teenage daughters come home from school, sit down and do their homework. I know they are just doing what they are supposed to do. Still, it warms my heart.

I loved watching the Mets come home from a long road trip, step up and sweep the Nationals. It actually seemed like they did way more than they were supposed to do. The assignment was to win. Outscoring the Nats 22-2 gets the Mets a lot of extra credit. Still, it was heartwarming.

3 UP

AN ANGEL ON THE INFIELD

What’s the fastest you’ve ever fallen in love? Luisangel Acuña doubled up the gap to tie the second game of the series at 1-1 and I was smitten before he pulled into second. He went 5-for-8 vs. Washington with two home runs and made a few slick plays at shortstop, too. OK, there was the one bad error that led to a run, but this is the honeymoon phase where we overlook minor flaws.

ANYTHING YOU CAN DO I CAN DO BETTER

It was like every starter wanted to outdo the guy who went before him. Sean Manaea gave up one run in 7 innings on Monday. Tylor Megill yielded one unearned run in six innings on Tuesday. And for the grand series finale Wednesday night, Jose Quintana fired seven scoreless. New York starters are tops in the majors in September with a 1.77 ERA. The whole staff is at 2.13 this month, also first.

GRIMACE

The Mets won seven in a row in June after Grimace threw out the first pitch. They have now won three straight since installing a purple Grimace seat in section 302. (The seat is in row 6, seat 12 because the fateful Grimace offering was tossed on June 12.) They said the purple in the City Connect jerseys the Mets debuted this season was to represent the 7 Line subway. Future generations might think it had a double meaning.

3 DOWN

MVP CANDIDATE BANGED UP 

Francisco Lindor (back, day-to-day) missed the series and we hope he returns soon. He was a long shot to beat out Shohei Ohtani for MVP, but any shot is likely gone with him missing critical September games. In other injury news, Kodai Senga might return next week, possibly pitching in relief. And, unfortunately, promising rookie RHP Christian Scott needs elbow surgery and is likely to miss all of 2025.

ATTENDANCE, MAYBE

Howie Rose lamented the Citi Field turnout on X, recalling the 1980s when he said the Mets drew better in September. The Mets drew 21,694 on Monday, 24,932 on Tuesday and 34,196 on Wednesday. Roger McDowell, a key reliever who won 14 games for the 1986 champs, backed up Rose. I looked up a weeknight series vs. the Montreal Expos, Sept. 8-10, 1986. The crowd sizes were 24,964, 26,867 and 31,934.

Whatever the case, Brandon Nimmo wants to see you at Citi Field.

“I mean, we’re ready to go,” he said to cheers in a post-game interview on the field Wednesday. “This is gonna be playoff baseball. And Mets fans, we need you guys to fill this place up. This place needs to be rocking on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. We need your help. We need everybody to get out here. We need this place full. This is playoff baseball. This is what you guys want. Let’s go! Let’s go Mets!”

NOT EVERYONE IS HOT

The pitchers are humming. The offense scored 10 runs in back-to-back games. And that was after a thrilling Starling Marte walk-off. If it wasn’t obvious, I am struggling to find three things to be down on. Even the slumping Mark Vientos went 2-for-4 Wednesday. Maybe this article should have been 6 up, 0 down. What a time to be a Mets fan.

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