Niese, Hairston hurt as Mets' ship sinks

PHILADELPHIA -- After falling out of the wild-card race, the Mets hoped to finish this year in a somewhat respectable fashion.

But now they must be wondering if they'll have enough bodies left to finish the season at all. The Mets dropped their fifth straight Tuesday night in a 9-4 defeat to the Phillies, and that one loss may have cost them two more players.

With the Mets still reeling from another blowout to the Phillies -- they have been outscored 19-4 in the first two games -- Terry Collins revealed afterward that Jonathon Niese and Scott Hairston are almost certainly headed to the disabled list.

Niese re-aggravated a rib-cage muscle injury in his right side on a 1-and-2 pitch to Hunter Pence in the third inning but was not removed until the fifth. A week earlier, Niese initially hurt himself on an awkward swing during his Aug. 16 start against the Padres, but had been cleared to face the Phillies.

"If I didn't start, I probably would have said I should have started," Niese said. "I don't know if I damaged it more. I could still pitch with it, but I don't think I'd be as effective."

If Tuesday night was any indication, that's an understatement. Niese (11-11) allowed 10 hits and eight runs in four-plus innings, including home runs to John Mayberry Jr. and Shane Victorino.

In the third inning, before the injury, Niese already had served up Victorino's solo homer, a single to Placido Polanco and drilled Chase Utley. He struck out Pence with a high fastball, but that was the pitch that doomed him, and Mayberry took him deep soon after.

"When you're in the heat of battle, you're a little hardheaded, I guess," Niese said. "I feel terrible. I should have said something after the [pence] at-bat. I was going to put myself on the DL with the way that it feels."

With Niese hurt, the Mets are in a bind for Monday's doubleheader against the Marlins. They had planned to call up one starter from Triple-A Buffalo, but now will need two, with Miguel Batista, Chris Schwinden or Pat Misch the most likely candidates.

"We've got to climb out of this," Collins said. "Right now, they don't need to be beaten down any worse than the other team is beating them."

Hairston felt relatively fine before his final swing on a seventh-inning strikeout. That's when he injured his left side reaching for a slider. Hairston had X-rays immediately after the game and the Mets were still waiting for the results as of late Tuesday night, but the DL looks unavoidable.

"You take swings for six or seven months praying that stuff like that doesn't happen," Hairston said. "It just went tonight. To take a swing like that is not a normal body function. Right now, I wouldn't feel comfortable taking a swing."

How much worse can it get for the Mets? In falling to 5-17 in their last 22 games, they slipped to eight games under .500, which matches their low point of the season from April 20, when they were 5-13.

There was a time when the Mets figured to have an outside shot at a wild-card berth. But that time is long over, and now they will be lucky to even match their 79-win total of a year ago. To do that, the Mets (60-68) would have to go 19-15 in the last 34 games.

The one bright spot Tuesday night was Lucas Duda, who started in rightfield and hit a two-run homer in the eighth. Duda has seven homers in 73 games and is hitting .324 (35-for-108) since the All-Star break.

Now the Mets must rely on Mike Pelfrey in Wednesday's finale to avoid utter humiliation at the hands of their NL East rivals. Pelfrey happens to be 1-3 with a 9.38 ERA in seven games at CBP, his highest ERA at any ballpark in the majors.

"Obviously, I'm not going to let them get down," Collins said. "I'm not going to let that happen. My teams do not get down. The minute you get down, the minute you start to give up, is the minute that teams will beat you around at this level."