NEW YORK — The longest homestand of the second half for the New York Mets began in familiar fashion July 23, when restless fans at Citi Field expressed their displeasure while watching the home team nearly got no-hit.
The homestand ended Sunday night, with a roaring crowd of 35,374 cheering as the newly potent Mets completed a three-game sweep of the Washington Nationals and moved into a virtual tie for first place in the National League East with a 5-2 victory.
In between, the Mets and their fans went through a heretofore unimaginable range of emotions.
“You know what?” said 66-year-old Mets manager Terry Collins. “I’ve seen a lot of things and been a lot of places, but I’ve never experienced the emotional roller coaster that we went through these past 10 days at home.”
The homestand began with two losses to the Los Angeles Dodgers in which the Mets were outscored 10-2 while scratching out just nine hits. However, general manager Sandy Alderson acquired infielder Juan Uribe and utility man Kelly Johnson from the Atlanta Braves just prior to the July 24 loss, and the Mets appeared energized in winning the next two games to salvage the split. Uribe had a walk-off RBI in the finale on July 26.
On a day off July 27, Alderson bolstered the bullpen by acquiring right-handed pitcher Tyler Clippard from the Oakland Athletics. That proved to be a timely move a day later, when right-handed reliever Jenrry Mejia — the Mets’ former closer turned eighth-inning man — was suspended 162 games for failing a second PED test.
Last Wednesday, Alderson all but completed a trade that would have sent infielder Wilmer Flores and injured right-handed pitcher Zack Wheeler to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for center fielder Carlos Gomez. Flores, who was told by teammates and fans that he was about to be traded, was seen crying at shortstop during the eighth inning of a 7-3 loss to the San Diego Padres.
However, the trade fell thru at the last second, an embarrassing incident that seemed magnified when the Mets blew a six-run lead Thursday and lost 8-7 when the Padres scored two runs in a ninth inning delayed by rain twice for a total of 3 1/2 hours.
Alderson managed to make up for the Gomez fiasco by acquiring outfielder Yoenis Cespedes from the Detroit Tigers moments before the trading deadline on Friday. Several hours later, Flores homered in the 12th inning to give the Mets a 2-1 win over the Nationals.
First baseman Lucas Duda, whose job was endangered at the start of the homestand, hit two homers and accounted for all three Mets RBIs in a 3-2 win Saturday. And Duda hit the last of the Mets’ three homers in a five-pitch span in the third inning Sunday. He has nine homers in his past eight games.
“I salute the players for being able to deal with it — they didn’t let it get to them,” Collins said. “They just kept showing up getting ready to play. That’s why they’re responsible for the way things ended. They certainly came out of a real tough loss the other day to San Diego with the Nationals coming in and a huge series and got refocused in a hurry.”
Now, the Mets are looking ahead and wondering what kind of big things may lie in store at a suddenly energized Citi Field. Chants of “LET’S GO METS!” echoed in the walkways as fans filed out Sunday night after the Mets moved into first place this late in a season for the first time since 2008, their final year at Shea Stadium.
“I think we can definitely feed off the energy,” said infielder Daniel Murphy, the longest-tenured member of the Mets’ 25-man roster. “In this stadium, that was unique. Haven’t really experienced what has taken place here the last two nights, which is a lot of fun.”
Said Collins: “It’s going to be a fun two months.”