It was only the Mets, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t incredibly satisfying. If anything, that it was the Mets only makes nights like tonight sweeter. This evening the Braves completed two victories in the span of a few hours, thereby proving yet again that they are a very good team, while the Mets… well, the Mets suck.

There were two victories tonight because last night’s game was resumed at 6:10 pm. The earlier matchup had been suspended in the first place because monsoon-like rains had interrupted a tie game through 8 innings. Well, that’s what the official scorecard said, anyway. Those of us watching knew better. We knew, for instance, that said rains actually interrupted a 5-3 Braves lead, but the umpires, in a quixotic quest to get a complete game in – had the Braves or Mets ended the 8th inning with a lead, the game, considering the weather, would have ended without need for suspension – allowed the Mets to batter around poor Anthony Varvaro amidst horrendous conditions. After the 8th inning finally ended last night, the Metropolitans had managed to capitalize upon the conditions and tie the game. And so the game was suspended, not concluded.

Play only resumed briefly, however. With a new day and (slightly) better weather, the Braves closed well. After squandering a nice opportunity in the 9th – please, Fredi, stop bunting guys from 2nd to 3rd! – the Braves scored a couple runs in the top of 10th inning off an ineffective Brandon Lyon. In the bottom half of the inning, Craig Kimbrel was a bit wild, but he managed to shut the door nonetheless. That made for one Braves victory.

Mike Minor made sure that there would be two. Not only was he brilliant on the mound; he hit a tie-breaking two-run homer in the 5th: straight into the wind, no less. And once that happened, the wheels came off for Dillon Gee. The next four batters reached, and before Terry Collins could say “holy crap, Dillon is kind of a stupid way to spell Dylan,” the Braves had staked a 5-0 lead. Not that Mike Minor needed all those runs. The two he plated would actually have been enough. For you see, Mikey was dealing tonight. Consider the line: 7.1 innings,10 strikeouts, 3 hits, 2 walks, 0 runs. But then consider that it actually looked more impressive live.

Tomorrow the Braves go for the sweep. Before we turn to that, though, let’s enjoy how it was only 9 days ago that we were struggling to say anything good about this team. They had won only 9 of their previous 25 games. Almost nobody was doing anything right. And they had just ended a long road trip with a mere 1/2 a game lead on the Natspos. Now they’ve won 8 in a row, have a number of guys back healthy and playing well, and hold a 5 and 1/2 game lead in the East. Boom.