NEW YORK _ Mickey Callaway had to break the silence somehow.
Five seconds had passed. Then six. Seven.
When the Mets' first-year manager looked out toward a gallery of cameras, all he saw across the press room was blank faces.
"Everybody's ready for David?" Callaway joked.
With Callaway's team far out of the playoff hunt, the baseball became an afterthought on Thursday when the Mets swept a doubleheader with the Miami Marlins. The afternoon conversation was dominated instead by David Wright's announcement that he will return in late September for what's likely one final cameo in Queens. The tributes to No. 5 poured in after the Mets' 4-3 win in the matinee and 5-2 victory at night.
"His character is so valued here," said Steven Matz, who earned a no-decision in Game 1. "I can tell my grand-kids I started Game Four of the World Series with David Wright at third base. That's something that I'm definitely going to carry with me."
The captain's replacement at third base got the big hit in the opener.
The Mets were one out away from losing when Michael Conforto tied the game with a solo home run. Then Todd Frazier went deep in the next at-bat for his third career walk-off homer and first as a Met.
"They have been putting good swings on mistakes," Callaway said. "They got mistakes and they won a game for us tonight. In my mind, that was a big game heading into the second game of the doubleheader. It takes the pressure off a little bit."
Those late heroics helped the Mets take advantage of a versatile performance by Steven Matz. The left-hander gave another quality start on the mound and provided the early offense at the plate. With a two-run home run in the second inning, he became the team's first pitcher to go deep since Seth Lugo last July.
"It was a good feeling," Matz said. "I know that. I definitely got all of it. It felt good to get my first one."
Matz also pitched well with only three runs allowed through 61/3 innings and 100 pitches. He was roughed up in the second inning when the Marlins got back-to-back home runs of their own, first by Peter O'Brien and then Isaac Galloway. But Matz rebounded well by giving up only one hit to the final 15 batters he faced.
"The long ball has been killing me this year," Matz said. "But after the two home runs, it kind of felt like I settled in. My stuff wasn't as crisp today as it's been, but I was able to work around it."
The Mets scored five unanswered runs in Game 2 to sweep the doubleheader.
Catcher Tomas Nido hit his first career home run, and Conforto added two more RBIs as the Mets improved to 68-78.
Jason Vargas was the winning pitcher of record for his six-inning, two-run start.
With the victory, the Mets took three out of four games against Miami _ including a rain-delayed game on Wednesday _ and impressed Callaway with their resiliency.
"It's not easy to sit around and have to come in here and have the emotions of the David Wright stuff," Callaway said. "It's good. They're overcoming and that's all you can ask."
