Pitching on the road against the division-rival Braves, the team he rooted for as a kid, rookie Nolan McLean impressed, going seven innings in the Mets' 12-7 win.

WASHINGTON — Adult Nolan McLean is looking forward to his encore. As is Young Nolan McLean, who grew up in North Carolina rooting for the Braves and listed Chipper Jones among his childhood heroes (which also included a few Orioles and Nationals, plus North Carolinian Josh Hamilton).

Nolan McLean’s impressive big league debut served as a reminder of how the Mets began climbing from the edge of disaster to the playoffs almost exactly nine years ago.

On Baseball Night in NY, Anthony DiComo and Jim Duquette discuss the possibility of another young pitching prospect Brandon Sproat, joining the Mets rotation sooner rather than later.

By the time Nolan McLean returned to the mound Friday for the fourth inning — a danger zone for Mets starting pitchers — he had plenty of latitude.

But finishing this marathon has proven challenging: Holmes is averaging less than five innings in his last nine starts, the Mets losing five of them, as he’s posted a 5.02 ERA and his strikeout-walk ratio has shriveled to 1.66.

The first pitch was a ball. The second, Rodríguez lined toward McLean, who fielded the ball on one hop behind his back, and then had the presence of mind to throw to second for a chance at a double-play.

The identity of the most successful New York Mets teams has been about pitching. Rarely have they been an organization fully dependent on large offensive number