Final Score: Mets 17, Phillies 0

What an explosive day at the plate for the New York Mets. Thank the gods for the Phillies. The Las Vegas 51s pitching staff and hitters made Philly look like they belonged in the Pacific Coast League this weekend. The Mets earned many of the runs on Sunday, but Philly also handed us runs left and right. Walks and wild pitches and hit by pitches. Sweet Jesus it was an ugly game for Philly. I’ll take it though! The other Wild Card teams lost. The Cardinals and Giants continue to struggle, and the Mets continue to excel against the bad teams during this crucial stretch of baseball. That reality has to be acknowledged. As much as it feels like “nobody wants the Wild Card”, the Mets have been among the best teams in baseball (record wise) for the last month. Let’s keep it up.  Also, I’m excluding the Braves from the “bad teams” because 1) They destroyed us and 2) Seemingly they aren’t as bad as their record would indicate. Look out for them next season.

The Runs They Gave Us: The Phillies handed the Mets so many runs on Sunday it was hard to keep up. With the bases loaded in the fourth inning, they walked Jose Reyes to force in a run. In the fifth inning with the bases loaded, they hit Rene Rivera with a pitch to force in a run. They also added a two out wild pitch in the fifth inning with Jose Reyes batting that allowed Jay Bruce to score. They walked in a run with bases loaded again in the 7th with Jose at the plate. The gifts just kept coming and coming.

The Big Hitters: There were many notable performances on Sunday including two hits from Jay Bruce. In the second inning Bruce led off with a double and T.J. Rivera followed that with a single. Bruce wound up scoring when James Loney hit into a double play. Curtis Granderson hit his 30th homer of the season in the fourth inning. In the fifth inning T.J. Rivera hit an RBI single. In the seventh inning Asdrubal Cabrera added the big time Grand Slam to make it 11-0 Mets. In the 8th inning Jose Reyes doubled in two runs. He had 4 RBIs on the day. Eric Campbell even got in on the action with a two-run single in the 8th inning. Michael Conforto had the final RBIs with a two-run double to cap off the 8th inning.

I’m Excited But…: I’m excited to see Robert Gsellman off to an incredible major league start. He pitched 7 scoreless innings and gave up 3 hits with 8 strikeouts. I’m excited but…I’m keeping my expectations low. I’m hoping he keeps this up, but I ain’t about to crown him as a new young ace. I made the mistake of doing that with Conforto. I don’t want to make that mistake again. Is he a playoff caliber starter? I don’t know. But it doesn’t matter does it? If we get there he’s pitching. So yeah he could be a playoff starter. We shall see if he gets the chance.

Today: The game tonight will be very emotional. Jose Fernandez was supposed to start before his tragic passing in a boating accident on Sunday. I will remember him tonight. I will remember him always.