WASHINGTON — The Dark Knight had been knocked to the ground, his lance broken, his horse having long ago bolted through the center-field gates.
Then his Mets teammate Kirk Nieuwenhuis, picked back off the baseball refuse heap, a fifth — or is it sixth? — outfielder, came to the plate as a pinch-hitter. He had hit just three home runs this season, and all had come in one game. The rest of his season had not been magical, either.
But he took a low, hard swing and launched a ball on an arc into the right-field stands.