WASHINGTON — The Mets poured into the clubhouse, high-fiving each other and cheering louder than they had after any win this season after they had overcome a six-run deficit to beat the Nationals, 8-7, Tuesday night. Then they sat at their lockers, still buzzing, and waited until Kirk Nieuwenhuis came off the field from his postgame interview.
Michael Cuddyer awarded Nieuwenhuis the championship belt, a tradition he started to honor the player of the game for Nieuwenhuis’s pinch-hit, go-ahead home run off Jonathan Papelbon, the Nationals’ closer, in the eighth inning. Nieuwenhuis held the belt high, like the heavyweight champion of the world, and the clubhouse erupted in cheers again.