Final Score: Mets 5, Reds 0

The baseball scheduling people/the morons at ESPN forced the Mets to play a 1pm Labor Day Game in Cincinnati after playing the 8pm game of the week in New York the night before. But that didn’t stop the surging Mets from winning again. Bartolo Colon pitched another sexy 6 scoreless innings, and the Mets put up 5 runs against the Reds with a lineup full of backups (no Yoenis Cespedes, Jose Reyes, Asdrubal Cabrera, Curtis Granderson). The Pirates and Marlins both lost. The Marlins are completely fading without Giancarlo Stanton (Duh!) and the Pirates are fizzling out as well.

Wild Card Race: This Wild Card race brings me back to my high school track days. I remember watching the elite runners (i.e. The Cubs) race in the first heat. They were so fast and had amazing form on the track. They were constantly setting new personal records and impressing all the other participants at the track meet. And then I’d step on the track in the final heat with all the slowest dudes left in the building (i.e. Pirates, Marlins, Mets, Cardinals). The gun would go off and halfway through the race my form would be awful, and I’d be struggling to breathe. Half the runners in my race would slow down to a snails pace as they tried to catch their breath with the finish line in sight. And that’s the Wild Card race this year. The Pirates and Marlins are fading like the fat kids I used to run with. And I like to think of my high school self as the Mets. Injured and struggling to get to the finish line but still managing to beat my second rate competition.

Mets Are Hot, So Am I: Not only are the Mets hot, but I’m hot as well. I picked up the Rockies pitcher Chad Bettis in my fantasy league just for this week, and he tossed a complete game two hit shutout against the Giants. It really doesn’t get much better than a fantasy league player going off against a team that your favorite squad is competing against in the actual MLB playoff race. The Mets are a game behind the Cardinals and now 1.5 behind the Giants. It’s a race! And the Mets are inching closer to the lead.

Ding-Dongs: Matt Reynolds hit a solo homer in the third inning of today’s game and Kelly Johnson launched a solo shot in the fifth inning to give the Mets a 2-0 lead.

7th Inning Explosion: In the 7th inning the Mets piled on more runs. Travis d’Arnaud walked and James Loney singled. Then Matt Reynolds added another RBI on his 3 hit day. He hit a single up the middle that scored d’Arnaud and made it 3-0 Mets. The scorching hot Asdrubal Cabrera then pinch hit for Colon and hit a single to right to make it 4-0 Mets. Pray for Cabrera. He’s really hobbling out there because of his banged up knee. Please give him the shot doc. He’s seemingly in so much pain. Alejandro De Aza added a sac fly to give the Mets a 5-0 lead. That was the final score.

Need The Sex: Bartolo pitched 6 scoreless innings and gave up 5 hits. He said before the game he’d love to come back next year. Umm re-signing Bartolo is literally the next priority after we sign Yo. He’s essential innings insurance for our rotation. I’m happy the Triple-A young arms are emerging, but the Mets need to stock up this offseason on rotation arms like the Dodgers did last offseason. With all the questions marks surrounding the health of Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz, and Zack Wheeler, I won’t feel confident unless we have a couple of veteran contingency plans for 2017.

Wilmer’s Game: Wilmer Flores is now batting .269. He had another 3 hits today. Yeesh. Talk about making a statement regarding your future with the club. Wilmer doesn’t just want to stick around and platoon. This guy wants to play everyday. Good for Wilmer and good for the Mets for sticking with him.

Gsellman Pinch Ran: In the 7th inning, Terry brought in Robert Gsellman to pinch run. On a day where we brought up a bunch of position players from AAA with the expanded rosters, Terry decided to put one of our last remaining arms on the freaking basepaths. Terry can really be an idiot sometimes. I hope Sandy ripped him a new one for that decision.

Tomorrow: More of the crappy Reds tomorrow. This time Rafael Montero takes the mound. Hopefully the new young arms can help us maintain our momentum.