With their 77th victory, the Mets put another game between themselves and the once-favored home team. The margin separating the first- and second-place tenants now is six games, and because of how the Mets overcame a 7-1 deficit to beat the Nationals for the fifth time in five games over 38 days, magic-number calculations are now permitted. The Mets' is 19.
A 10-0 trouncing would have served the Nationals better, would have left them less exasperated and less fragile. It is one thing to lose a game identified as critical, and something else to give it away. The Nats did nothing less than collapse in the final three innings.