NEW YORK -- The situation was precisely what the Mets desired: hitter's count, runners at the corners, one out in a one-run game. This was their chance to break through against the Nationals, to wash away the residue of a particularly stinging loss on Monday, to prevent one defeat from becoming something more.
Sammy Solis delivered the two-ball, one-strike pitch, and Jose Reyes, Mets manager Mickey Callaway's choice to bring home the tying run, swung wildly through it. The next offering came in near the bottom of the zone, and Reyes half-swung in a defensive manner, missing it completely.