Francisco Lindor, even with a broken pinky toe, looks like Francisco Lindor.
Juan Soto, particularly against the team with which he won a World Series and later traded him away, finally looks like Juan Soto.
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Try it freePete Alonso continues to pound pitches, very much looking like the best version of himself, and an evolving Jeff McNeil is showing the same kind of vintage bat-control skills while adding some power.
A Mets lineup that has begun to live up to its spring expectations might be able to welcome one more bat to a group that is beginning to come together.
Brandon Nimmo joined the party Wednesday, when he blasted a pair of home runs — his 11th and 12th of the season — in a 5-0 drubbing of the Nationals in front of 40,681 at Citi Field.
Those five runs were more than enough for David Peterson, who pitched the club’s first shutout of the season and let up just six hits while striking out five.
The defense behind him was sparkling — including a brilliant throw from center fielder Tyrone Taylor in the eighth that cut down Luis García Jr. at the plate — and Peterson was efficient, needing 106 pitches for a throwback complete game that the Mets bullpen surely appreciated.
The Mets (44-24) are winning in a lot of different ways and simply winning a lot, running their streak to five straight and taking 10 of 12 to reach a season-high 20 games over .500.
They will seek a second straight sweep on Thursday afternoon, and their season outlook is a whole lot brighter if Nimmo looks like Nimmo again.
The left fielder is no longer a center fielder and no longer running as he once did, perhaps because he is 32 and perhaps because of the injury toll that included plantar fasciitis last year.
He struggled down the stretch in 2024, which carried over into a slow start to this season, hitting .212 with a .671 OPS as recently as May 21.
But during a stretch that has coincided with Carlos Mendoza bumping Nimmo up to the No. 2 slot against righty starters, Nimmo has taken off. After going 2-for-3 with a walk and the dingers, he has spiked his OPS to .741 amid an 18-for-59 (.305) stretch over 16 games.
This is the player the Mets envisioned when they awarded him $162 million, and this is the top half of the order the Mets envisioned when they splurged this offseason.
Wednesday, all seven of their hits and all five of their RBIs came from their first five hitters (Lindor, Nimmo, Soto, Alonso and McNeil).
The red-hot Soto contributed his own home run — a two-run shot in the third for his fifth homer in 11 games — while Alonso smacked an RBI double in the first.