After Colon set the Phillies down in order in the first, the Mets got right back to beating up on Morgan. Jose Reyes lead off with a homer to left field, and Asdrubal Cabrera followed with an impressive opposite field bomb on the next pitch. It was only Cabrera’s third right-handed home run on the season and only the second time in Mets history that they started a game with back-to-back home runs (Jose Reyes and Ruben Gotay did it in 2007). Reyes also re-tied Curtis Granderson for the franchise record for most leadoff home runs with 18.

The Mets offense quieted down after that, mustering only three more hits from the first to fourth innings, but it seemed that would be all they’d need. Colon held the Phillies hitless for 4.1 innings until Odubel Herrera broke the no-hit bid up with a double. Colon struck out Freddy Galvis, but Terry Collins made his latest questionable tactical decision and called for an intentional walk of Peter Bourjos. Pitcher Adam Morgan made the Mets pay, driving in Herrera with an RBI single to cut the Met lead to 2-to-1.

Colon would do his best to make up for Terry’s bad decision, leading off the next inning with a double that left the bat at an estimated 103 mph. Reyes followed with a softly hit double, but Colon only moved to third, an unforgivable gaffe even by his lowly baserunning standards. And in typical Met fashion, Cabrera and Yoenis Cespedes followed with ground outs, and Colon was unable to score from third. Then, in atypical 2016 Met fashion, Neil Walker worked a nine-pitch walk before Wilmer Flores launched a grand slam to left center field (even Colon can score on that), extending the Met lead to 6-1.

The Phillies went down in order in the top of the sixth before the Mets started adding more runs, this time against Phillie reliever Frank Herrmann. Alejandro De Aza, replacing Justin Ruggiano (departed with left shoulder soreness, because 2016 Mets) lead off with a walk. Travis d’Arnaud then doubled down the right field line to score De Aza and make it 7-1. What happened next hadn’t happened for 14 years, as Colon singled for his the second multiple hit game of his career. d’Arnaud moved to third, but was thrown out on a poor attempt to score on a shallow fly ball from Reyes. Cabrera made sure the Mets didn’t leave the inning without a couple more runs though, launching his second homer (one from each side of the plate) of the game to increase the Met lead to eight runs.

The seventh inning was quiet on both sides, and the Mets seemed well on their way to cruising to a lopsided victory. Of course, a Met game wouldn’t be complete without even more debatable moves from Terry Collins. With his hook three time zones too late as always, Collins elected to leave Colon in for the eighth inning. The first four Phillies recorded hits (two singles, two doubles) with three of them scoring to cut the lead to 9-4. Colon didn’t record an out before being pulled, leaving a runner on second for Hansel Robles. With some help from Cabrera (tagged out Aaron Altherr trying for third on an infield single that Reyes missed on a barehand try), Robles was able to bail Colon and Collins out and send the Mets to the ninth up 9-4.

Sean Gilmartin entered for the ninth, looking to bounce back from a rough outing in St. Louis. After throwing one pitch, blood appeared on his finger, as he seemingly nicked his finger in the bullpen while warming up. Gilmartin stayed in the game temporarily but surrendered a hit and a walk. Terry Collins took this as a fantastic opportunity to further abuse Jeurys Familia, summoning him even though the Mets were still up by five runs. Instead of using literally any other reliever (if none of your other pitchers can protect a five-run lead, you have much bigger problems), Collins decided to add more unnecessary work to a pitcher already in top 10 in the league in appearances. At least Familia ended things quickly, retiring the three Phillies he faced to secure the 9-4 victory.

With a very soft schedule the rest of the way, the Mets will have to beat up on bad teams like the Phillies to sneak into the playoffs, and Friday’s win was a great start towards that goal. Jay Bruce also donned a golden sombrero as the decision to acquire continues to look horrible (don’t forget he was a below average hitter in 2014 and 2015). Noah Syndergaard squares off against Jeremy Hellickson on Saturday as the Mets look to extend their brief win streak.

Photo credit: Noah K. Murray – USA Today Sports

Robert Gsellman bailed out the injured Jon Niese. Mets 6, Cardinals 3.

Discussion and Analysis

That the Mets would miss Jon Niese was supposed to be a #HotTake when I predicted it on April 4. Truth be told, despite his reacquisition on Aug. 1, the Mets have not appreciated Niese’s second act: Prior to the game, the team tweeted out his 9.28 Mets ERA rather than his seasonal 5.30 mark. Maybe somebody in Mets PR misread Baseball Reference. Maybe it was a brilliant subtweet. Either way, were it not for Matt Harvey and Steven Matz’s injuries and Zack Wheeler’s rehab setback, Niese would be nowhere near the Mets’ rotation.

He may never be again. Niese left after just four batters — walk, laser to left field that Cespedes picked off his shoetops, walk, single — having reaggravated his knee injury, so we lost an opportunity to see whether it’s at all predictive that Niese is 55-3 for his career when staked to a three-run lead.

Niese’s exceedingly early exit led to Robert Gsellman’s major-league debut with runners on first and second. His first big-league pitch, to Yadier Molina, was crushed to right-center field for a run-scoring double. Gsellman promptly settled down, getting Jhonny Peralta to ground out and striking out Jedd Gyorko. Gsellman threw first-pitch strikes to eight of the first nine batters he faced. He ended up throwing 75 pitches and allowing just 2 hits over 3 2/3 innings. Suffice to say, Gsellman is more likely to make the next start in this rotation spot than is Jon Niese.

The Mets started tonight 4.5 games back of the Cardinals in the Wild Card race (five in the loss column). If there’s any hope remaining for a playoff berth, it starts with this series. And the Mets started this series with a purpose. In the first inning, Jose Reyes walked and Asdrubal Cabrera singled. After Yoenis Cespedes popped to second, Wilmer Flores hit a fly ball to left field that Gary Cohen called as a sacrifice fly… and then as a three-run homer.

After Niese blew the lead and left the game, the Mets came up in the second tied at three. As they did in their first time at bat, the Mets made a statement. Travis d’Arnaud singled with one out, allowing Gsellman to sacrifice bunt in his first MLB plate appearance. Reyes then snuck a grounder under the glove of Cardinals “shortstop” Gyorko to plate d’Arnaud. Next man up Asdrubal Cabrera duplicated Molina’s first-inning slugging to double home Reyes. Cabrera and Reyes reached base in seven of their 10 plate appearances to drive the Mets’ offense.

The rest of the game wasn’t pretty, aside from a 461-foot Justin Ruggiano moonshot. After Gsellman navigated through the fourth inning, Josh Smoker, Jim Henderson, Addison Reed and Jeurys Familia preserved the win.

Contemporaneous Thoughts

Between Justin Ruggiano and Wilmer Flores, it's a bad idea to start a southpaw against the Mets.

— Scott D. Simon (@scottdsimon) August 24, 2016

GKR-isms

— Gary

“I can give my hits away now that I’m not playing, so I kinda rubbed up against [Jay Bruce] to try to give him a couple of my hits… I saved them, put them in the freezer.” — Keith

“You have cryogenic hits?!” — Gary

“It’s bad karma [to bring a bat up with you from the minor leagues].” — Keith

Coda

With their win last night, the Mets picked up a game in the playoff race against Washington, Miami and St. Louis. Aces up tonight at 8:15 p.m.: Jacob deGrom versus Carlos Martinez.

Photo Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

A pitcher’s duel ended in a 10-7 Giants win, just like we all wrote it up.

The good

Seven runs! With Neil Walker out for the third straight game with lower back stiffness, Justin Ruggiano’s unlikely grand slam and Ty Kelly’s unlikely two-run triple provided most of the offense against San Francisco — Rene Rivera had an RBI groundout somewhere in there too. It wasn’t enough, but for the lackluster offense we’ve become accustomed to at this point, seven runs is a miracle.

The bad

Hansel Robles’ strange August continues. The default seventh inning man out of Terry Collins’ totally-effectively-we-promise-run bullpen, the hard-throwing righty gave up two walks in his first three batters — he was pulled after the second free pass — in the bottom of the eighth, both of which came around to score when Addison Reed allowed a double to Buster Posey. Robles was the most pleasant surprise in the bullpen for most of the season, but the heat seems to be getting to him: in eight appearances this month, he’s been on the hook for three runs twice, two runs twice and one run once. Not exactly what the Mets are looking for from one of their supposedly more stable ‘pen pieces.

The ugly

Jacob deGrom gave up a career-high eight runs on 13 hits, seemingly all of which came from Madison Bumgarner. Staked to a 4-0 lead after Ruggiano’s grand slam, deGrom not only couldn’t put up a shutdown inning in the bottom of the fourth, but gave up five runs, including a two-run home run to the Mountain Man. A lot fell wrong for the Mets in that inning, mostly a Hunter Pence single and an Eduardo Nunez triple that were quite literally inches away from foul territory, but that’s just about how the season is going at this point.

Oh, and also? Steven Matz is missing his start tonight with “general discomfort” in his left shoulder. So, uh, come on down, Seth Lugo.

Photo credit: John Hefti – USA Today Sports

A lot of important Mets things happened on Monday, the least of which was a 6-5 extra-innings loss to the Yankees in Game 1 of the Subway Series.

The good

Matt Reynolds hit a three-run home run and Wilmer Flores continued to destroy lefties with a solo shot off C.C. Sabathia. Curtis Granderson also showed off some impressive range in the outfield that we haven’t seen much of until now, probably proving he’s fully capable of manning center field when Jay Bruce gets here. Still with me? No? Anyone?

The bad

Logan Verrett continues to be Not Matt Harvey, giving up three runs and four hits in five innings. It’s not bad per se, but three runs for a team who can’t buy runs seems insurmountable at this point.

The ugly

We have a few options for the messiest situation of the night. Okay, maybe more than a few. This list got away from be a little bit.

1) Addison Reed, who struck out Mark Teixeira for the second out in the eighth, then bookended a wild pitch with singles by Brian McCann and Didi Gregorius, allowing the Bombers to tie the game at 5. Luckily for the Mets, Reed has been practically untouchable all year, so he was due for a hiccup.

2) Seth Lugo loading the bases with no outs in the top of the 10th, allowing a Starlin Castro sacrifice fly to put the Yankees up 6-5.

3) Justin Ruggiano, who pulled up lame after hustling down to first in the fourth inning. The newly minted Met landed on the DL shortly after the final pitch, so at least we know he truly belongs in orange and blue.

4) Terry Collins, who inexplicably wasted precious outs against Dellin Betances by calling for Reynolds lay down a bunt to move James Loney, who led off the bottom of the 10th with a double, to third.

5) The Mets front office, unable to time flights from Las Vegas — or some other perfectly rational explanation, I’m sure — played short once again with both Asdrubal Cabrera and Yoenis Cespedes unavailable. Steven Matz pinch hit in the sixth and drew a walk, which I guess counts as a success, but at some point there has to be a serious discussion about a nonexistent bench. Unfortunately, that conversation will probably come when one of the few healthy pitchers hurts himself playing a position he shouldn’t be playing.

Photo credit: Brad Penner – USA Today Sports

The Mets finally retired Mike Piazza’s No. 31. Then fans sat through the rain to watch a depleted 2016 squad lose 7-2 to the Rockies.

Piazza’s No. 31 Retired

Through their first 54 seasons, the Mets had retired more numbers for former managers than players. Yesterday, they put Mike Piazza next to Tom Seaver. Former teammates Al Leiter, Edgardo Alfonso and Cliff Floyd welcomed Piazza – a nod to other players who may get inducted to the Mets’ larger Hall of Fame. After his emotional speech last week in Cooperstown, Piazza started by saying, “With all due respect to Tom Hanks, there is crying in baseball.” It was a more festive atmosphere too. When Piazza said he’d be watching the Mets every day on TV, Howie Rose asked if he was listening on the radio too. Piazza interrupted his speech to say yes, one of several times he had fun with people in the ceremony or the fans. At the end, he pointed to his retired No. 31 in the left field corner and said, “I’ll always be here with you guys – just give a peek to Ol’ Mikey.” Then he threw the first pitch from home plate to Leiter, who was standing on the pitcher’s mound.

Mets Manufacture Early Runs

In the bottom of the first, Neil Walker singled to center and stole second with two outs. Rockies starter Jorge De La Rosa jammed Wilmer Flores with a fastball, but Flores was able to muscle a broken bat single to left for the Mets first run. Flores tried to manufacture another run, breaking for second when De La Rosa threw an 0-2 pitch in the dirt, but was thrown out by a large margin. Cabrera and d’Arnaud got on to lead off the second. Then new Met Justin Ruggiano learned what it is like to be a Met hitter with runners in scoring position, swinging over a 3-2 changeup. Kelly Johnson started at first and drove in the Mets second run on a ground ball past DJ LaMahieu. Bartolo Colon struck out and Curtis Granderson grounded up the middle, but with the shift Trevor Story was perfectly positioned to end the Mets threat.

Colon Struggles on Short Rest

The Mets were a pitcher short after Tuesday’s doubleheader. Sean Gilmartin, the most likely callup for a spot start, is on the disabled list with a sore shoulder. Seth Lugo hadn’t pitched in a week and was a starter for most of his minor league career. However, the Mets decided to start Colon and have Lugo piggyback in case Colon couldn’t go six innings. Colon hadn’t thrown on short rest in 11 years, and based on last night’s performance, he probably will never do it again. Though he did start out by striking out three of the first four batters. Instead of fooling batters with his low tailing fastball, Colon was throwing harder and elevated his fastball past Charlie Blackmon and Carlos Gonzalez.

The Rockies started making adjustments in the fourth, as Colon couldn’t get his fastball down. Nolan Arenado singled and then Gonzalez doubled to the wall. Story grounded to shortstop but Cabrera threw wide. Johnson isn’t a natural first baseman, so he couldn’t block the ball from going to the wall. However, he recovered quickly and threw out Story advancing to second when his hand slipped off a wet base. Rookie David Dahl homered to right to give the Rockies a lead they would not relinquish.

Colorado tacked on two more in the fifth, as Colon couldn’t regain his command. Terry Collins turned to Lugo to pitch the next three innings, and it’s not clear whether Lugo should have started. He had a 1-2-3 sixth, then gave up two runs in the seventh before another 1-2-3 eighth. Neither Mets pitcher was able to consistently throw strike one. In the end, maybe starting Colon was the better choice because Lugo can come on in relief, but you couldn’t ask Colon to piggyback if Lugo struggles against a strong lineup.

Mets Offense Collapses

The Mets squandered an opportunity to tie it up in the bottom of the fourth. Ruggiano singled past a diving Story with one out. Story threw his glove in the air and was taken out of the game with a bruised thumb, likely due to his slide (X-rays were negative, but ask Juan Lagares how that might turn out). Johnson singled past Mark Reynolds. Colon squared to bunt but, Ruggiano tried to steal third on the second pitch. Arenado kept his arm high and initially missed the runner, but Ruggiano slid past the base and was called out.

The Mets didn’t get another hit. Yoenis Cespedes grimaced after swinging in the fifth and was taken out for precautionary reasons. Ruggiano slipped and let a ball get past him on the wet grass in the top of the inning. After the game, Collins said the Mets need Cespedes’ bat too much to put him on the DL. Wilmer Flores hit a ball over the wall to lead off the ninth, but he was called out on replay due to fan interference. The umpires concluded Dahl would have made the catch, although it looked like he took a bad angle and would have missed the ball. Collins asked if the play should be a double and was ejected for arguing a review.

More on Ruggiano

Mets fans may remember Ruggiano from when he started for the Marlins in 2013. The 34 year old was hitting .226/.321/.427 in Triple-A Round Rock before being released by the Texas Rangers earlier this week. He hits better against right handers and has experience in center field, two things the Mets lost with Lagares’ getting thumb surgery. Last year, Ruggiano moved to the NL in August and hit .291/.350/.618 in a strict platoon for the Dodgers. It was only 60 plate appearances, but the Mets seem to be hoping lightning strikes twice.

Other Notes

• Jose Reyes was placed on the 15 day DL, following the Mets tradition of playing a man short for a few days and then putting the player on the DL. Matt Harvey was moved to the 60 day DL.
• In his career, Mike Piazza went 6-15 against Bartolo Colon with a HR, 2 doubles and 2 strikeouts.
• The Mets were charged with three errors, while the Rockies infield misplayed several balls that went for hits. Both teams seemed equally affected by the wet conditions.

What’s Next

The Mets send Noah Syndergaard to the mound to try and salvage one game of the season series against Colorado (they’re currently 0-6) after sweeping the season series last year.

Photo credit: Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports