BRUCE BREAKS LOOSE
Jay homers again as Mets take emotional series in Miami:
MIAMI – Terry Collins spends his off hours thinking about how the Mets can manipulate their rotation for the best possible playoff run. With season-ending injuries to three members of the staff he left spring training with, he’s had to improvise down the stretch. But after a season of having to scrape together offense and living on their pitching, maybe the Mets manager finally won’t have to worry about manipulating his lineup.
Jay Bruce continued to hit his way out of a slump with his third home run in five games, Seth Lugo was solid again and Jeu- rys Familia picked up his 50th save as the Mets beat the Marlins, 5-2, at Marlins Park.
With the Cardinals’ loss to the Reds Wednesday night, the magic number for the Mets (85-74) to clinch one of two National League wild-card spots is two. They hold a 11/2-game lead over the Giants, who lost late Wednesday to the Rockies, 2-0, for the top spot and home-field advantage.
The Mets have a day off Thursday, so the soonest they could clinch is Friday in Philadelphia, where they finish the regular season with a three-game series.
The death of Marlins ace Jose Fernandez early Sunday morning hung heavy over the series and took a mental toll on the Mets as well as the Marlins.
“You saw as much tribute to Jose as we could, without it getting overboard with it,” Collins said. “We had games to play that were very meaningful for us. I thought the guys after Monday night, they knew they had to go out and play. We had some great at-bats the last couple nights.”
The most encouraging at-bats had to be from Bruce, who dropped a two-run homer into the Marlins’ right-field bullpen in the fifth inning. It was his 32nd homer of the season, but just his seventh since coming to the Mets in a trade-deadline deal with the Reds.
“Since the day I got here, that’s all I wanted to do,” Bruce said. “I didn’t want to be anyone that I wasn’t. I just wanted to come in here and play good baseball, be a professional and contribute to the team.”
“Lately I have been able to do that and that is very, very important,” Bruce added. “It’s the only thing that is important to me is to just be able to contribute.”
The Mets also got a two-run homer from James Loney, inserted for Lucas Duda, whose back stiffened up after playing Tuesday night.
Curtis Granderson continued his red-hot September, going 4-for-4.
While the bats are clicking, the Mets are focusing on making their rotation the most effective for a playoff push. Collins said pitching Bartolo Colon on short rest Friday to have him lined up for the wild card game is a back-up plan. The first choice would be for the Mets to clinch their spot early and use Noah Syndergaard for an abbreviated start Sunday and then have him pitch the wild card game. If the Mets need to win Sunday, however, Syndergaard will go full-out. There is a possibility Collins would use him if homefield advantage is on the line as well.
“For sure when you play in front of our fans, it’s an advantage. They are excited. They are loud, they get after it in the stands. (I) think it would be great to play at home,” Collins said. “When that decision comes, it’s going to be a tough decision to make.
“We want to go as far as we can. If it means saving him to get us to the next round, we certainly got to consider it.”
Lugo, however, gave Collins one last reassurance that he would be able to handle a start in the playoffs if the Mets get out of the wildcard round. He held the Marlins to just a Martin Prado two-run homer over 5.1 innings.
“This kid has done nothing but come here and saved us,” Collins said of Lugo.