NEW YORK _ The only way to cope, the Mets determined, was to just go out and play as well as they could. On a tough day, before what promises to be an even tougher one, they did all they set out to do, advancing their wild-card hopes, saying so long (at least for a little while) to Citi Field and beating the Phillies, 17-0, in the largest shutout in team history.
Robert Gsellman gave them another standout start, allowing only three hits and striking out eight in seven scoreless innings. He received a standing ovation, as did Asdrubal Cabrera, who capped the rout with a grand slam in the seventh inning. Curtis Granderson also hit a home run and Jay Bruce had two hits as the Mets did their best on a somber occasion, hours after learning about the death of Marlins star pitcher Jose Fernandez in a boating accident.
Like the rest of baseball, the Mets organization was shaken by the news about one of the sport's best pitchers and most vibrant young personalities. The Mets finished their regular-season home schedule on Sunday and will play the Marlins in Miami on Monday night, a game that Fernandez was scheduled to start.
"It's one of those games I'm not sure we look forward to playing," Terry Collins said.
They will have to rely on the same professionalism that carried them Sunday.
No one on the Mets was really sure how to react. Any time a member of the baseball fraternity dies, it is somewhat shattering, somewhat numbing. For a few minutes Sunday morning, when the news was still fresh, a couple of players shot small basketballs into the hoop set up in the middle of the clubhouse, which was an attempt at being normal because that is what they always do.
Mostly, the room was filled with the sound of the MLB Network on TV, which featured tributes to Fernandez. Former Met Preston Wilson, a Marlins broadcaster, was on and speaking about having been the last person with the organization to see the pitcher as they said goodbye to each other in the parking garage after the game Saturday. Wilson called him "passion personified," said he viewed Fernandez as a little brother and added, "Baseball needed Jose Fernandez."
Collins requested that no questions during his pregame news conference be devoted to the routine matters involving the Mets. He wanted to speak only about the pitcher who walked into Collins' office before the All-Star Game this year and thanked the manager for choosing him for the squad. "I said, 'You got an inning in you today?' He said, 'I've got two if you need it.' That's how he was. He loved to be out there. So this is a sad day," the Mets manager said.
Still, there was a game to play and out of respect for the entire sport _ something that Collins said Fernandez had in great supply _ the Mets were determined to go out and play it. "You've got to play it the right way," the manager said.
It was no small occasion, either. The Mets' season is on the line every day. And the final regular-season appearance at Citi Field meant a great deal to the fans who have urged them on through a second consecutive improbable late-season run.
The music in the park was more subdued than usual, but the Mets' play was vibrant.
Bruce heard chants of "Bruuuuuuuce" rather than "boooooo" when he followed Saturday night's pinch-hit home run with a double to left-center field against Jake Thompson in the second inning. Bruce scored the game's first run on a double play.
Granderson made it 2-0 in the fourth, hitting his 30th home run. Later that inning, Jose Reyes, who played with Fernandez with the Marlins and knew him better than other Mets did, walked with the bases loaded to increase the lead to 3-0.
Bruce hit another blast in the fifth, a shot off the left-centerfield fence against Phil Klein. It went as only a single because Yoenis Cespedes held up off second base, but it did fuel a three-run burst that expanded the advantage to 6-0.
All of this complemented the work of Gsellman (3-2, 2.56 ERA), who not only puzzled the Phillies on the mound but baffled them at the plate. Despite the well-known fact that his a left shoulder does not allow him to swing, he caught them off guard with a push bunt down the first-base line and reached on his first career hit.
