Ex-Met Livan goes 8 to stop streak at 6

WASHINGTON -- Riding a six-game winning streak, the Mets wanted nothing more than to plow through the Nationals Thursday night and roll into Citizens Bank Park for their weekend showdown with the Phillies.

Standing in their way, however, was a familiar obstacle named Livan Hernandez. The crafty veteran pitcher, and former Met, is dubiously listed as 36 in the team's media guide. Which is just as well, because the years seem to have had no effect on him, other than to provide a wealth of experience he used to deal the Mets a 4-3 loss.

Hernandez, pitching with the cloud of a U.S. Attorney's investigation hanging over his head, was a constant nuisance for the Mets. He not only baffled them from the mound, allowing three runs in eight innings, but even screened Josh Thole on a run-scoring bunt in front of the plate.

"Oh, man," Thole said. "He's salty out there."

Hernandez also quick-pitched to help nail Jose Reyes on a stolen-base attempt in the seventh. After showing 1.3 seconds to the plate all night, and making sure the Mets noticed, Hernandez rushed through a 1.1 delivery, and Pudge Rodriguez fired a bullet that nabbed Reyes, killing yet another scoring chance for the Mets.

"He knows what he's doing," Reyes said, "and they got me."

Chris Capuano kept the Mets within reach but allowed 10 hits and four runs in 52/3 innings. With the Mets looking for any excuse to insert Dillon Gee back into the rotation, no one on the staff can afford many slip-ups, and manager Terry Collins said Capuano's changeup didn't look quite as sharp as it did in his last outing.

Still, Capuano's performance was not fatal for the Mets, and they got the tying run to second with two outs in the ninth. Thole singled off Drew Storen and was replaced by pinch runner Chin-lung Hu, who stole second. But Willie Harris struck out to end the game and the streak.

"It hurts to lose this game," Harris said. "They had the lead the entire time, but we felt like we had a chance. We're coming to the ballpark thinking that we're going to win, and when you don't, it puts a bad taste in your mouth."

That's a product of the six-game winning streak, the Mets' longest since they won eight straight from June 10-17 last season. While that helped to restore hope after a 5-13 start, the loss dropped them to 11-14 and into last place in the NL East, but the Mets did glean some tangible benefits from the expired streak.

"They realized you've got to play a whole game," Collins said. "If things aren't going very good, you can't just throw in the cards. You've got to battle through the nine innings."

Hernandez, as usual, was a formidable foe in making his 451st start without a stay on the disabled list. In addition, last night's start was his first since learning that his name had been linked to the U.S. investigation of a Puerto Rican drug dealer. That appeared to have zero effect on Hernandez.

One of his better plays came in the fourth inning, with runners at first and third. Hernandez poked a bunt a few feet from the plate and then did a stutter-step, momentarily blocking Thole from the ball. By the time Thole got to it, his dive back toward the plate was too late to get Jerry Hairston Jr.

Thole said he asked umpire Brian Runge if it was interference, and the answer was no. Runge didn't believe Hernandez deliberately blocked Thole.

In any case, Hernandez got in the Mets' way again.

"We were going good," Thole said. "As good as anybody is going to go."