NEW YORK -- For a moment Sunday afternoon at Citi Field -- before the Mets finished off the Phillies, 6-5 -- one Anthony Recker swing in the sixth inning eased the pains of a difficult season in Queens, his bat colliding with an A.J. Burnett breaking ball that never really broke, the ball soaring through the humid August air until it landed a half-dozen rows back in left field.The Mets waved their rally towels from the dugout. The celebratory Big Apple rose from its outfield dwelling. The 7-Line Army banged their noise sticks in center, and most of the rest of the 27,159 in attendance got out of their seats to cheer as Recker rounded the bases. 
It was the sort of long majestic homer that's easy to imagine living long in baseball lore if the weather was a little cooler, the calendar a little later, the crowd a little more electric.But the Mets won't get that chance this year. Although the win Sunday gave them the series over Philadelphia -- keeping the Mets in fourth place in the National League East -- they fly to Miami on the precipice of another lost September, their goals for which are hardly tangible. Manager Terry Collins spoke this weekend of finishing strong in the hopes of it carrying over into 2015 -- an objective true for the team as a whole as well as several individuals.There were signs of progress Sunday. Right-hander Dillon Gee scattered seven hits and three walks over six innings, holding the Phillies to three runs for his second straight quality start -- the beginning of a renewed consistency, maybe, that he has lacked in the second half.Then there was Wilmer Flores, who is in the midst of a six-week tryout of sorts as a Major League shortstop. He tied his career high with three hits and scored a run, then made a nifty diving stop to end the eighth inning.David Wright, too, gave hints that he's close to emerging from another lengthy slump. He singled twice -- both line drives to center -- for his first multihit game since Aug. 13. One of those hits plated a run, his first RBI in 20 days.The clubs exchanged blows in the middle innings. Philly jumped ahead on Ryan Howard's RBI double in the fourth, but the Mets scored twice in the fifth -- once on Matt den Dekker's double and once on a Wright single -- to briefly take the lead. Howard's solo shot to right in the sixth tied it up.That set the stage for Recker's go-ahead blast in the bottom half of the inning.Domonic Brown homered in the eighth off Jeurys Familia to make it a one-run game.Kirk Nieuwenhuis doubled and scored on a Dilson Herrera single -- his first big league RBI -- to give the Mets an insurance run in the eighth, and that run proved pivotal as Jenrry Mejia allowed a run in the ninth before notching the save.Tim Healey / MLB.com
It was the sort of long majestic homer that's easy to imagine living long in baseball lore if the weather was a little cooler, the calendar a little later, the crowd a little more electric.But the Mets won't get that chance this year. Although the win Sunday gave them the series over Philadelphia -- keeping the Mets in fourth place in the National League East -- they fly to Miami on the precipice of another lost September, their goals for which are hardly tangible. Manager Terry Collins spoke this weekend of finishing strong in the hopes of it carrying over into 2015 -- an objective true for the team as a whole as well as several individuals.There were signs of progress Sunday. Right-hander Dillon Gee scattered seven hits and three walks over six innings, holding the Phillies to three runs for his second straight quality start -- the beginning of a renewed consistency, maybe, that he has lacked in the second half.Then there was Wilmer Flores, who is in the midst of a six-week tryout of sorts as a Major League shortstop. He tied his career high with three hits and scored a run, then made a nifty diving stop to end the eighth inning.David Wright, too, gave hints that he's close to emerging from another lengthy slump. He singled twice -- both line drives to center -- for his first multihit game since Aug. 13. One of those hits plated a run, his first RBI in 20 days.The clubs exchanged blows in the middle innings. Philly jumped ahead on Ryan Howard's RBI double in the fourth, but the Mets scored twice in the fifth -- once on Matt den Dekker's double and once on a Wright single -- to briefly take the lead. Howard's solo shot to right in the sixth tied it up.That set the stage for Recker's go-ahead blast in the bottom half of the inning.Domonic Brown homered in the eighth off Jeurys Familia to make it a one-run game.Kirk Nieuwenhuis doubled and scored on a Dilson Herrera single -- his first big league RBI -- to give the Mets an insurance run in the eighth, and that run proved pivotal as Jenrry Mejia allowed a run in the ninth before notching the save.Tim Healey / MLB.com
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
