With their actions, the Mets revealed the importance of their four-game series against the Nationals.
To revive a struggling offense this weekend, they reshuffled the deck by promoting prospect Dilson Herrera. To preserve a critical victory, they asked closer Jeurys Familia to deliver a five-out save.
In many ways, the Mets pulled out all the stops to right themselves.
But before a crowd of 41,048 at Citi Field on Sunday, the Mets found a way to deliver something less watchable than Pacquiao-Mayweather, falling 1-0 to the Nationals.
Struggling shortstop Wilmer Flores was benched to give him time to clear his head following a spate of errors.