WASHINGTON — Look, there’s nothing logical about baseball, OK? We know that. We understand that every day around the game brings stuff you’ve never seen before, and that’s all part of the game’s inherent charm, and its appeal.
For goodness’ sake: Last Sunday Kirk Nieuwenhuis hit three home runs.
Kirk Nieuwenhuis.
Three.
So, yes: Baseball is the kind of thing that is designed to surprise you, to make you shake your head in wonder and delight. So, yes: It is possible that in the history of baseball, a team that is very much in the thick of a summer pennant race after the Fourth of July posted as a starting lineup a heart of the order that was weaker than the 4-5-6 that Terry Collins posted Monday night, as the Mets started a three-game series with the Nationals that is probably their most meaningful post-Fourth series since 2008.