Game 136 Recap: Mets Walk Over Nationals, 7-3

The wins keep on coming. In the first game of the series, the New York Mets overpowered the Washington Nationals. Thanks to a solid outing by R.A. Dickey, who pitched six innings, giving-up nine hits, three earned-runs, and zero walks, the Mets were able to come out ahead, 7-3.

Dickey departed after the sixth, but the Mets bullpen made a seamless transition. Tim Byrdak and Ryota Igarashi combined for a scoreless ininng before handing over the reigns to new-comings Josh Stinson and Danny Herrera. Stinson had been pitching in Triple-A for the Mets, and Herrera was one of the two players-to-be-named-later in the Francisco Rodriguez trade. The two shut-down the Nationals for two innings. Both Stinson and Herrera might be important parts of the Mets bullpen in 2012, so it was nice to see them get-off on the right foot in 2011.

In addition to solid pitching, the Mets offense was potent, collecting nine hits and seven runs. Lucas Duda, Nick Evans, and David Wright all smacked homeruns, and Angel Pagan chipped-in a two-RBI single.

The win was the Mets sixth in their past seven, and brings them up to 67-69.