WASHINGTON -- The pitching matchup was the same, but the results couldn't have been more different.

For the second time in five days, Gio Gonzalez squared off against Bartolo Colon. In last week's 7-1 Nats victory , Gonzalez got the better end of the deal, limiting the New York Mets to one run in six-plus innings, while Colon allowed 10 baserunners and failed to make it out of the fifth inning. This time around, it was a 180. Gonzalez allowed three homers and seven runs in five innings, while Colon rebounded, holding the Washington Nationals to one run in seven innings. The end product was another 7-1 rout; only this time, it was New York that came out on top.

It'd be easy enough for the Nationals to make excuses. There was a one-hour-and-seven minute rain delay that pushed back the start of the game. Instead of Gonzalez pitching to backup catcher Jose Lobaton, his normal battery mate, the pitcher had starter Wilson Ramos behind the plate for the first time this season. But to blame those things would be to ignore the obvious, which is that despite taking two out of three games at Citi Field last week and coming into Monday's opener with a 1.5-game division lead over a Mets team that's dealing with some issues, the Nats will have their hands full in trying to unseat last year's National League East champs. And Gonzalez didn't have his best stuff tonight.

Gio Gonzalez lasted five innings against the Mets on Monday, allowing seven runs on 10 hits. Greg Fiume/Getty Images

"Just one of those nights," said the 30-year old lefty, who served up three long balls at home for the first time since joining the Nationals in 2012. It was just the third time in the past five seasons that he has allowed more than one dinger in the District. "I left pitches up, and they were making contact. In that inning, their hitters were being aggressive first pitch."

The inning in question was the top of the third, and aggressive doesn't even begin to describe New York's approach. On a night when dark clouds hovered over Nats Park, the Mets' five-run frame was so sudden it might as well have been lightning. In a span of nine pitches, Gonzalez allowed six baserunners and four runs. Six fastballs, two changeups and a curveball led to four singles, one hit-by-pitch and a homer. The six baserunners were as many as Gonzalez allowed in his last outing against New York, only this blitzkrieg took 85 fewer pitches. Two pitches and one sac fly later, a fifth run had crossed the plate. Suffice it to say, the Mets learned from last week's loss.

"The adjustments, they happen so fast," manager Dusty Baker said. "You go to the bathroom and come back and they got five runs. It turns into a feeding frenzy. This game is a game of adjustments, and they adjusted quite well to Gio today."

With 15 games left to play between the Nats and Mets, it's those kind of adjustments that will likely determine who comes out on top of the NL East.