Punchless Mets, Maine lose to Dodgers, 5-3
Photo credit: UPI Photo | Mets 3rd baseman Ed Charles does a dance and pitcher Jerry koosman and catcher Jerry Grote hug each other after the Mets won the 1969 World Series 10/16 from the Baltimore Orioles.
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LOS ANGELES - When Casey Blake's three-run homer sailed over the leftfield wall at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night, the Mets' initial reaction had to be disappointment, probably followed by some degree of envy. Was it really that easy? Three runs on one swing of the bat?
Not for the Mets, who view the fences these days like some faraway place, visible but hopelessly out of reach. They seem even farther in the distance without Carlos Delgado, who is lost until late July, and the Mets also did not have Gary Sheffield on Tuesday because he was feeling too sick to play.
What was left? Not much. Jerry Manuel even chose to start Ramon Martinez at second base rather than Fernando Tatis, a decision that left the Mets' hurting lineup woefully short in the 5-3 loss to the Dodgers. They have not homered since last Wednesday, when Sheffield and Tatis both went deep, and slipped to 3-3 on this road trip.
Manuel explained that he stayed away from starting Tatis at second base because he wanted Martinez for defensive purposes. But Daniel Murphy still dropped a routine fly ball on the first play of the game that led to an unearned run.
"As much as we've struggled defensively, we're going to have to make some decisions which way we're going to go, what type of team we're going to be," Manuel said. "Are we going to start kicking it around and hit it? Or are we going to hit it and try to catch it?"
Right now, the Mets are stuck somewhere in between, a poor-fielding team that is unable to erase their mistakes with one swing. John Maine helped himself with a two-run single in the second inning that gave the Mets a 2-1 lead and David Wright's RBI single upped it to 3-1 in the third.
But in the sixth inning, after a pair of one-out singles, Maine hung a slider to Blake, who crushed his ninth home run and put the Dodgers in front for good.
"The worst-case scenario is home runs," said Maine, "and that's what happened."
Murphy, still waiting on that first-base assignment, committed the obligatory error - the Mets' sixth in two games - and also was picked off after his one-out single in the first inning. That was not a good tone to set, especially coming off of Monday's debacle.
"That was discouraging, to be honest with you," Manuel said. "You always want to make the first play of the game. You're trying to send the message that you're ready to play."
After having Chad Billingsley on the ropes, however, the Mets disappeared at the plate. Jose Reyes went 1-for-4 in his return from a five-game break for his sore right knee, but was mostly ineffective atop the order. And without Gary Sheffield, who had the night off, the punchless Mets must have watched Blake's home run with envy.
The Mets picked up Murphy after his error by taking a 2-1 lead in the second. Billingsley was 1-0 with a 0.64 ERA in three career games against the Mets, but he had trouble early finding the strike zone and threw 35 pitches in the second inning alone. Wright drew a leadoff walk, and two outs later, Billingsley intentionally walked Jeremy Reed after falling behind 3-and-0.
After another walk to Omir Santos, it was up to Maine to help himself and he did, smacking an 0-and-1 slider into centerfield for a two-run single. It was Maine's third hit of the season and his first RBIs. The momentum died, however, when Reyes whiffed.
Billingsley was headed for trouble again in the third with another leadoff walk, this time to Murphy, and Carlos Beltran was spared hitting into a double play when Rafael Furcal flung the relay throw into the Mets dugout. That put Beltran at second and Wright scored him with a line drive single to centerfield. The only problem was that Wright got hung up on his way to second when the throw to the plate was cut off and he was tagged out in a rundown.
That ruined another potential rally. Ryan Church followed with a base hit, but Ramon Martinez - batting in the No. 6 hole - struck out for the second time in two at-bats.
The Mets emulated their 1962 forefathers with five errors in Monday's 3-2 loss to the Dodgers, but Manuel refused to implement any sweeping changes for the following night. One big difference was Reyes returned to play shortstop - Martinez committed two errors Monday at the position - and Manuel felt better about Reyes after he had missed the previous five games.
"I'm looking forward to watching him play," Manuel said. "He should be fresh enough to get us back on track."
After hinting he would use Murphy at first base, Manuel stuck with Reed for another night, despite his throwing error that doomed the Mets in the 11th inning on Monday. Earlier in the day, on a conference call with reporters, general manager Omar Minaya suggested that Murphy and Tatis would get most of the playing time at first, but Manuel wanted to show some support for Reed after his costly mistake.
"I'd like to give Murphy a shot," Manuel sad, "but I'd like to give [Reed] another chance out there and see how he does."
The problem early on was having Murphy in leftfield. Though he's shown marginal improvement at the position, Murphy has more than the occasional hiccup, and he hurt the Mets immediately in the first inning. When Juan Pierre led off with a soft liner to leftfield, Murphy cruised in for what appeared to be a routine catch.
But the ball kicked off his glove as he reached up for the backhanded catch and then rolled behind him, allowing the speedy Pierre to take second on the error. Maine followed that flub with a walk to Rafael Furcal and Orlando Hudson made Murphy feel even worse with an RBI single.
Maine escaped the inning without any further damage, but Murphy took the mistake hard. He was upset with himself as he stormed back to the dugout and slammed his glove to the bench.
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