Granderson, Mets walk-off Dodgers

Mets teammates mob Curtis Granderson after his ninth inning walk-off home run. Courtesy of Al Bello (Getty Images)

The Mets welcomed the Dodgers into town this weekend for a three game series.  It is a special Memorial Day weekend as the Mets are honoring the 1986 Mets on the 30th anniversary of their dramatic World Series win over the Red Sox.  While the big ceremony takes place on Saturday night, the Mets got some early fireworks going on Friday night in the form of a ninth inning walk-off home run by Curtis Granderson.

The Mets got off to a fast start.  In the bottom of the first with Asdrubal Cabrera and Yoenis Cespedes on base, Neil Walker doubled into the left field corner to score Cabrera.  Juan Lageres followed with a single into centerfield that scored Cespedes and put the Mets up 2-0.  

After a Chase Utley sacrifice fly in the third put the Dodgers on the board, the Mets answered in the fourth.  David Wright homered for the third straight game.  His solo shot into centerfield put the Mets up 4-1.  In the fifth, Juan Lageres homered into right field to give the Mets the commanding 5-1 lead.  

Mets starting pitcher, Jacob deGrom had a solid start.  He went seven innings allowing just one run on three hits, striking out seven and walking three batters.

"I feel closer.  There's still some work, but this is a step in the right direction," deGrom said.  "I didn't give up as many hard hit balls tonight; there were a couple hit at Cabrera but their base hits, none of those were really hit hard.  So I think that's a step in the right direction."

Jeurys Familia went out in the ninth inning to finish the game, though it wasn't originally a save situation.  He loaded the bases and allowed a walk to Yasmini Grandal that cut their lead to just three with Utley due up.  Utley was booed the sellout Citi Field crowd the entire night.  Fans were still bitter about his controversial slide that injured Ruben Tejada last October.  

Utley made those boos even louder and silenced the crowd in the process.  He delivered a clutch base hit into right field to score three runs and tie the game up at 5.

"You're always shocked when Jeurys doesn't come in and slam the door, but look, we had a chance to win the last game and we did it.  We'll take it and get ready for tomorrow," said Terry Collins.  

In the bottom of the ninth, Granderson made the crowd erupt again as he took the second pitch of the at-bat into the right field seats for a walk-off home run to give the Mets the 6-5 win over the Dodgers.

Granderson said the fans and the atmosphere in the ballpark all weekend with the tributes to 86' will benefit with the motivation.

"The fans did a good job of keeping us motivated.  We had a packed house here for the 86' weekend, which is definitely good," said Granderson.  

With the win and the Nationals losing 6-2 to the Cardinals, the Mets are now tied with the Nats for first place in the NL East. Game two will take place tonight at 7:15 and prior to the game the Mets will honor the 1986 team with a special pregame ceremony.  Then Noah Syndergaard will take the mound looking for another stellar start.