Final Score: Mets 8, Braves 0

The Mets took 2 out of 3 against the Braves at home. Pats on the back all around for the Mets doing what they needed to do and beating another bad team. The Mets have won six series in a row for the first time since 2006. I’d like to get excited, but the Nationals are in absolute cruise control atop the NL East right now.

Steven Matz was absolutely brilliant today with 7.2 innings of 2 hit ball and 8 Ks. It’s nice to see him, as a rookie, picking up some of this unexpected Matt Harvey slack.

Home Run Count: Rene Rivera hit a two run bomb in the 2nd inning. Asdrubal Cabrera hit a two run jack in the 3rd inning after Curtis Granderson walked to leadoff the inning. Then in the same inning, Yoenis Cespedes singled and Lucas Duda hit a two run homer. Lucas Duda added a solo home run in the 5th inning making it 7-0. You think Lucas is enjoying Cespedes in our lineup? Michael Conforto definitely is, and we all know Murph enjoyed him last season almost as much as he’s enjoying Bryce Harper now. Wilmer Flores also had a nice day with 2 hits including an RBI double that made it 8-0.

Ding Ding Ding, This Is A Thing: Well the sample size debate is officially over. I’m calling it. The Mets lead the league with 40 home runs. We are officially team ding dong. Home run or bust. Live by the dinger, die by the dinger. At least we can start preemptively drafting the epitaph for the Mets 2016 headstone. “Here lies the 2016 Mets season. Victim of the great September home run drought.”

I Stink Therefore I Am (The Starter?): Rene “Descartes” Rivera hit a two run bomb today. As I said yesterday, Kevin Plawecki has been terrible. Terry is fed up with Plawecki’s lack of hitting. Travis d’Arnaud is in Florida somewhere soaking in a human size test tube full of formaldehyde for the next two months. Rene Rivera and his career .200 average may just find it’s his way into the everyday lineup. Dear god no.

Boras Shrugs, Promptly Asks For Bribe: Scott Boras today said “there’s something unknown we are looking at” in regards to Matt Harvey and his early season struggles. Boras then proceeded to extend his hand and added “maybe a couple of Andrew Jacksons could refresh my memory.”

Curse of Turner: I don’t know what the hell is screwing up Harvey, but I have a feeling Chipper Jones and John Smoltz have something to do with it. Those bastards had nothing but positive things to say about us last season and before this season started they praised our young pitchers. They praised Matt Harvey in particular. And now look at him. He’s mysteriously struggling to compete and nobody has any idea what’s going on. Well I blame Smoltz and Chipper. They put a voodoo hex on Harvey. A plague on them! A plague on both their houses!

Juice News: ESPN today said more steroid suspensions are coming down this week. Please pray that it’s nobody on the Mets. I hope nobody bought Jenrry Mejia‘s self published book “Juicing To The Test: 25 Ways To Get Caught Today.”

Murph Alert: Daniel Murphy went 4 for 5 for the Nationals today with a home run, double and 3 RBIs. He brought his average up to .398 for the season. The Nationals crushed the Royals 13-2 and took 2 out of 3 from them. It figures the Mets would field the best team they’ve assembled in 10 years, and the Nationals through April would field arguably the best team in the league with Daniel Murphy doing an impression of goddamn Ted Williams. I’m sure this will only be a one month fluke. Right? Nobody actually thinks the Nationals are going to win 105 games and Daniel Murphy will win the NL batting title right? Just a reminder, Vegas thought the Nationals were a 100 win team last year. I haven’t looked at the Borgata MLB playoff odds lately, but I’m guessing the Nats are trending up. Gulp.

Tomorrow: The Mets head off on a big west coast trip. First stop is San Diego followed by Dodgertown and then Colorado. These trips are always tough, but San Diego and Colorado are not good teams. The Mets are 8-3 on the road. Let’s hope our road fire carries over to the west.