Mark Lennihan/Associated Press
When Mets starter Jacob deGrom made his way to the mound at 12:10 p.m. on Thursday, his personal anthem — “Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd — was cued up at Citi Field.
His opponents — the San Diego Padres — were well aware of what that song signaled, especially at that hour. DeGrom, the National League’s reigning Cy Young Award winner, began Thursday’s game with the best career daytime E.R.A. in the majors for more than a century — a 1.90 mark.
That number dropped on Thursday as the Mets won, 4-0.