Niese reinjures hamstring as Mets lose, 10-8

MIAMI - History is starting to repeat itself with the Mets, and if you're Jerry Manuel, not in a good way.

Forget for a moment that Jon Niese, the No. 3 starter, is in limbo after leaving yesterday's game in the third inning because of a "scare" involving his surgically repaired right hamstring.

Or even that the Mets battled back from a seven-run deficit, only to watch Fernando Nieve tee up a three-run homer to Chris Coghlan in a 10-8 loss to the Marlins at Sun Life Stadium.

It's not as if this kind of stuff hasn't happened before. The four-game sweep by the Marlins marked the first for the Mets since 2008, when the Padres did it to them. That sweep in San Diego dropped the Mets to two games under .500 (30-32) on June 8. Exactly nine days later, Willie Randolph was fired in Anaheim and Manuel took over as manager.

Fast forward to Sunday, and Manuel's flailing crew is 18-20, with two games left in Atlanta and two more in Washington before they return home Friday for the first round of the Subway Series at Citi Field.

With all of the issues surrounding the Mets, not to mention a five-game losing streak, Omar Minaya switched his travel plans to join the team for the Braves series. "To be honest with you," Jeff Francoeur said, "it's important we go in there and win those games."

Manuel does not seem to be in any immediate danger. But with the Mets dropping back into last place in the NL East, Manuel is not presenting a very convincing case to keep his job, either.

"We've got to get some things straightened out, no doubt about it," Manuel said. "And I think we have to make decisions and find the pieces that can get it done for us. I don't think we're in as big a trouble as it appears by the way we're playing. I think we're better than what we're doing."

Which begs the question: Is Manuel the right guy to summon that potential? He again tried to spark some offense with yesterday's lineup shuffle - which put Chris Carter in the cleanup spot, moved Jason Bay to third and dropped Angel Pagan to seventh - but the Mets killed themselves with terrible defense during a six-run third.

It started innocently enough with none out when Niese tried to get the lead runner at third base on Ricky Nolasco's sacrifice bunt. But David Wright inexplicably whiffed on the ball - it clanged off his glove for the error - and that loaded the bases. Cameron Maybin followed with a two-run double.

Then another bunt, this time by Gaby Sanchez, changed the game - as well as the Mets' pitching plans for the week.

Niese fielded this bunt as well but made a bad decision in trying to throw out Sanchez at first. He had no play, and his wild throw sailed up the line, allowing another run to score and putting runners at second and third.

That became Hisanori Takahashi's problem because Niese was forced to leave with what the team described as an aggravated right proximal hamstring. Jorge Cantu's sacrifice fly and Ronny Paulino's RBI single made it 6-0.

"It was an avalanche effect," Wright said. "The bunt play that I missed, and then we couldn't make a pitch or make a play to get out of the inning. It snowballed in a hurry."

But the Mets, as they have many times this season, clawed back. Wright's two-run double keyed a three-run sixth and Alex Cora had another two-run double in the seventh as the Mets cut it to 7-6.

That was as close as they would get, however, and close isn't going to save anyone's job.

"It's good that we have a lot of fight and we're finding ways to battle back," Wright said. "But at the same time, we need to see some results. The fight-back losses don't do us any good in the standings or the win-loss column."