Curtis Granderson was a youngster when the Detroit Tigers went to the World Series in 2006. Granderson, however, is known as a veteran leader this time around. 

The 34-year-old played in 38 postseason games coming into Monday night, but his 39th might be the most important career. 

Chase Utley did not play in tonight's game, though he was active. His appeal over his 2-game suspension won't happen until after game 4.

With his team down by three runs in the second inning, Travis d'Arnaud singled to score Yoenis Cespedes. While that was impressive, the big at-bat came next as Granderson strolled into the batters box. The veteran clubbed a double to deep right center, which plated three runs to break a tie and give the Mets a huge 4-3 lead. 

Mets manager Terry Collins said,"This guy is the same way everyday. He does not look for headlines. He just loves to play."

The New York Mets got that lead off the bat of Granderson and never looked back as the Mets kept the lead the entire game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The team from the East Coast ended up defeated the West Coast squad, 13-7. 

With the victory, the Mets jumped to a National League Division Series lead, 2-1, over the Dodgers. It will be a win or go home game for the Dodgers on Tuesday when they battle the Mets. 

The Mets continued their hot hitting with two runs in the third and four runs in the fourth. 

Five of those six runs came from d'Arnaud and Cespedes. The 26-year-old of California demolished a shot that scored Cespedes and just an inning later, Cespedes hit a 441 foot home run to dead left field, which gave the Mets a 10-3 lead on Monday. 

Adrian Gonzalez did not want anything to do with New York's offense, so he created some for his team in Dodger Blue. Gonzalez, who hit 28 home runs in 2015, screamed the ball for a home run to left field, but it just was not enough because the Mets jumped right back on the board. 

Rookie Michael Conforto hit a sacrifice fly to score d'Arnaud, who ended up scoring three times. Conforto, 22, hit nine home runs and 26 RBI on a .270/.335/.506 over 56 games this season. 

The Mets started their comeback with Granderson and they ended the win with the veteran as well. Granderson roped a double to left, which drove in Wilmer Flores and Juan Lagares.

During this postseason, Granderson is hitting .545. Meanwhile, the next best on the team is Flores with a .500 average and the third is Cespedes and Conforto, tied with a .333 average. 

After the life had been sucked out of the Dodgers, Howie Kendrick attempted to bring some back in the ninth inning to prepare for their next game against New York. Kendrick hit a three run home run, but the nail was still in the coffin for Mets. 

Erik Goeddel gave up the ninth inning homer to Kendrick and could not even record an out, which forced the Mets to pitch closer Jeurys Familia for a full inning in a non-save situation. Familia struck out one and finished out the game with ease to give the Mets a 13-7 win over the Dodgers. 

Speaking of dominant pitching, Matt Harvey was a stud for the Mets on Monday. Harvey threw 5.0 inning, while only giving up two earned runs on seven hits and two walks. 

Bartolo Colon relieved Harvey of his work and tossed 2.0 innings and gave up two runs on two hits. 

"He's Bartolo. He comes in and throws the ball over the plate. He's not going to change his demeanor," said Collins.

On the other side of the ball it was Brett Anderson, who toed the slab for the Dodgers. Anderson was chased after just 3.0 innings pitched after giving up six runs on seven hits.

Clayton Kershaw needs to bounce back for the Dodgers in a must-win situation in Game 4. The ace will be starting on three days rest, but should be at the top of his game. 

With a 2-1 series lead, the Mets will play host to the Dodgers at 8:07 PM ET. If New York defeats Los Angeles, it would be the first time since 2006 that the Mets won a National League Division Series, which came against the Dodgers.