Kirk Nieuwenhuis (seen here July 25th, his first four-hit night) delivered the cherry on the sundae -- or was it the icing on the cake?? -- as the Mets rallied from 7 - 1 down (as Matt Harvey scuffled his first game the innings limit controvery) to knock off the Nationals last night 8 - 7. This wasn't Cespedes or Wright or Granderson or one of the other big Met bats. It's a guy who was hitting was under .200 when he was released in May, was cut again after just 10 games with the Angels and was then re-signed. Back on the Mets bench for most of July, he was sent to the minors when the team beefed up with Yoenis Cespedes and other trade dealine acquisitions.
Back once the rosters expanded, "Captain Kirk" found himself on the bench. Last night, Terry Collins tapped him to pinch hit in the top of the 8th with the game tied at 7. Nieuwenhuis untied it with a home run to right field for what became the game winner. The victory, which put the Mets six games up on Washington in the NL East, was the first time they'd won a game after trailing by six runs or more since 2001.
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