Awe in the Familia: Met streak elite at 50

MIAMI -- It might not have been as easy as most, but Jeurys Familia locked down his 50th consecutive regular-season save in the Mets' 5-3 win over the Marlins on Friday night at Marlins Park.
Familia's streak, which dates to Aug. 1 of last year, is now the fourth-longest streak in Major League history after breaking a tie with John Axford's 49 straight saves from 2011-12.
"It's unbelievable," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "You just have great confidence when he goes out there, and you just feel good that he's going to keep the ball in the ballpark and they're going hit the ball on the ground and you've got a shot."
Familia is now one behind Jose Valverde's 51 straight saves from 2010-11. Tom Gordon's 54 consecutive saves from 1998-99 rank second in history, while Eric Gagne holds the longest streak at 84 straight saves from 2002-04.
With a three-run lead, Familia faltered a bit. He allowed a leadoff double to Christian Yelich -- a ball that was lost in the lights by Yoenis Céspedes -- and walked Marcell Ozuna before Martín Prado slapped a two-out RBI single, which was Familia's first run allowed since June 4. But Familia regrouped and got Adeiny Hechavarría to ground out to end the game with the tying runs on base.
The one small blemish on Familia's season was a four-run lead he coughed up to the Dodgers on May 27. It was not considered a blown save because it was not technically a save situation, as he entered with a four-run lead. It was also rendered somewhat moot when Curtis Granderson hit a walk-off homer in the bottom of the frame to give the Mets a 6-5 win.
Familia now leads the Majors with 34 saves and has recorded a save in each of his last 12 appearances.
"He continues to do it," Collins said. "He's done an outstanding job. He's had a great year. He's had a great two years, really."