WASHINGTON — Jacob deGrom got support, all of two runs. Max Scherzer pitched him to a virtual draw, and got no support. Part of the reason is that his team couldn’t afford to keep part of his usual support, and it left town to join an arch-rival.
That’s about as representative of the NL East race as it gets, and that summed up Opening Day at Nationals Park on Thursday. The Mets and deGrom announced their intentions to make it a four-team tangle, one that could produce three playoff berths — or just one. The margins for all of them are razor-thin, as thin as the margin in the Mets’ 2-0 defeat of the Nationals.
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The Phillies, with so many declaring them World Series contenders, are no lock, even with Bryce Harper, the rest of that lineup and rotation. The Nationals aren’t either, as loaded as they are in both areas. Neither are the defending division champion Braves.
As for the Mets? If they can escort deGrom into the win column more often with performances like his Thursday, they have reason to feel confident. Nobody in either clubhouse sounded as if any of that is an overreaction to the season opener, either.
“It’s a hard division; there are good teams, good young players,’’ said catcher Wilson Ramos, a longtime Nats regular who came to the Mets as a free agent this offseason. “But I chose my team.” Because of the staff he gets to work with and the lineup he’s part of: “I want to win. I want to win a World Series, and that’s the team I thought can do that.’’
The Nationals, of course, believe the same, and have felt prepared to contend for one throughout the final years of Harper’s tenure, as the organization groomed the players to help it survive what turned out to be the inevitable loss of their star player.
Yes, eyes did roll all over the D.C. metro area when the Nationals picked up where they left off last season, stranding runners, making less-than-savvy base-running decisions and leaving strong starting pitchers with nothing to show for their efforts.
Let’s not jump to conclusions about that, though, manager Davey Martinez said afterward. This, despite the five-hit shutout that featured six runners left on base and Victor Robles — one of those hot young prospects — thrown out by Robinson Cano between third and home on a double-play grounder to end the third.
“They played well,’’ Martinez said. “Our defense was good. Robles got his first hit (as the everyday centerfielder) out of the way. So, there’s a lot more baseball to go.
“The hits are gonna come, we’re gonna score runs, no doubt.’’
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Also, he felt it was important to point out, “Hey, we faced one of the best pitchers in the game, and we were in the game the whole game.’’
DeGrom was, as they say, nasty and filthy. Actually, it was his manager, Mickey Callaway, who said that. Specifically, he said, the changeup deGrom threw to Juan Soto in the sixth, with the tying run on third and one out and on a full count, was “one of the filthiest pitches I’ve ever seen.’’
Soto, who didn’t get fooled much in a spectacular rookie season, got fooled, and one out later deGrom was out of the inning and the game, still with the lead.
Just a 1-0 lead, of course, which gave Mets followers the same kind of 2018 deja vu Nationals fans had. But, deGrom said, “You know, I didn’t think about it. I was just out there trying to make pitches.’’
When he turned the game over to the bullpen, he added, “I was confident they would go out and keep the lead.’’
Not only that, but the Mets got an insurance run later.
The nerve-wracking opener climaxed a tense week for the Mets and deGrom, who agreed on a contract extension just two days earlier, sweeping away a distraction that could have derailed what potentially lies ahead.
Asked if his bosses spent wisely on their ace, Callaway deadpanned, “Yes, they did.’’
The Mets needed that long-term assurance. If they make the NL East a four-team race over the next 161 games, they’ll get a powerful short-term benefit, too.
