Nats take down Harvey again with five-homer barrage

The bottom of the fourth had arrived at Nationals Park, the home team was trailing 1-0 and the cheers from the sizeable pockets of Mets fans was far more noticeable than anything that could be heard from those dressed in red.

And yet ...

It was the first truly warm evening of the season on South Capitol Street (first pitch temperature: 83 degrees), the Nationals were making solid contact despite nothing to show for it on the scoreboard and Matt Harvey was on the mound for New York.

If ever conditions were ripe for a breakout, this was it. And sure enough, the breakout came in the fourth and fifth innings. With three home runs by Ryan Zimmerman, Anthony Rendon and Daniel Murphy, and a steady stream of lasers off the fast-fading Harvey, the Nationals scored five quick runs and were well on their way to a 7-4 victory.

"Like I said all along, this is a warm weather team," said manager Dusty Baker, who indeed has anxiously been awaiting a rise in temperatures after an unseasonably cold May. "These guys are swinging like it. That ball was jumping out today. That's the first time we've seen that."

There was, of course, far more to the offensive barrage than weather conditions. The Mets didn't exactly tear the cover off the ball, held to two runs by Stephen Strasburg before Eric Campbell hit a garbage-time homer in the top of the ninth.

But this warm, clear evening did provide a glimpse at what the Nationals lineup could resemble as summer approaches. These guys consistently hit the ball hard, and they repeatedly hit the ball over the fence.

Harvey gave up those three homers in the middle innings, getting knocked out and served to the pitchforks of New York's fan base and media contingent. But the Nationals added two more homers late, with Ben Revere taking Antonio Bastardo deep in the seventh and Wilson Ramos connecting off Jim Henderson in the eighth.

Those five total homers represented a season high and fell just one shy of the club record.

Shoot, even Revere homered in this game for only the fifth time in his career and only the second time off a left-hander.

"At least I get my one," the veteran of 662 big league games said. "I just gotta get one."

"He's always talking about it in batting practice," Baker said. "I'm just hoping he doesn't get that dreadful disease of home-run-itis. So just get back to yourself, Ben."

Revere has finally begun looking like himself after a dreadful start to a season that essentially was delayed a month by an oblique strain suffered on opening day. In his last five games, the Nationals leadoff man is hitting .450 (9-for-20) with three extra-base hits, five RBIs, two stolen bases and five runs scored.

The same can be said of several other previously struggling members of this lineup who are now bearing more resemblance to their usual selves.

Rendon, whose batting average bottomed out at .211 on May 9, is hitting .367 (18-for-49) with seven extra-base hits, nine RBIs, 11 walks and nine runs scored since. He won't admit it made a difference, but his surge nearly coincides with Baker's decision to drop him from second to sixth in his regular lineup, a move that has allowed the third baseman to step to the plate with more runners on base.

"I try not to worry about if there's somebody on base, or someone's hitting behind me or whatever," Rendon said. "If everyone just does their job individually, the team will start flowing. Hitting is contagious."

It certainly was on this night, with some continued dazzling displays at the plate from the one constant on this team since day one: Murphy.

With a two-run homer into the second deck down the right field line, then another single later, Murphy now has more multi-hit games (23) this season than not (22). His batting average sits comfortably at .392 as Memorial Day approaches, and with seven homers he's currently on pace for a career-high 25.

Murphy homered in his first career at-bat vesus former teammate Harvey last week in New York. It took a little more time on this night to connect, but as he and his teammates showed, it was only a matter of time before it all came together.

"I just think that we were able to probably execute a plan a little bit better (as the game progressed)," he said. "I know speaking for me personally, my first at-bat I swung at a heater that Harvey threw that almost went to the backstop. So not swinging at that was probably the better approach going forward in the game. And I know that Zim and Tony got some changeups they put good swings on. So I just think that we were able to maybe tighten up our own approach a little bit more and take advantage of a couple mistakes that he made tonight."