Pagan's inside-the-park HR, starting triple play not enough for Mets

WASHINGTON - The Mets accomplished two of the rarest feats in baseball last night when Angel Pagan hit an inside-the-park home run and later initiated a triple play with a brilliant catch. What the Mets cannot do is win games, and if that does not change, Jerry Manuel may himself become history.

R.A. Dickey showed promise. But the Mets' bullpen, once a strength, folded in the seventh. Raul Valdes gave up a leadoff double, and Fernando Nieve allowed three runs to score as the Mets suffered a 5-3 loss to the Nationals and slipped to 1-6 on this trip.

"It's been tough," Manuel said. "I thought once we turned that triple play, things would turn our way."

One of the manager's biggest decisions came before the game, when he decided to sit the struggling David Wright and start Fernando Tatis at third. Tatis went 0-for-3 against Nationals starter Livan Hernandez but homered off closer Matt Capps in the ninth as the Mets stumbled to their ninth loss in 11 games.

The Mets activated Dickey from Triple-A Buffalo for last night's start and placed Jon Niese on the disabled list with a mild right hamstring strain.

After allowing two runs in six innings Dickey got a no-decision, but the knuckleballer may have convinced Manuel to give him another start. He could be used in the bullpen Friday.

"I was hoping that he was going to give me another inning," said Dickey, who threw 98 pitches. "My pitch count is a non-issue. It's just the rhythm of the game and what type of effort I have to expend."

Pagan became the first player to hit an inside-the-park homer and begin a triple play in the same game since Sept. 25, 1955, when the Phillies' Ted Kazanski did it against the New York Giants, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Pagan's lunging grab started the 8-2-6-3 triple play; Kazanski initiated a 6-4-3.

"It doesn't matter to me because we lost," Pagan said.

The triple play was the 10th in Mets history and first since May 17, 2002, when Edgardo Alfonzo, Roberto Alomar and Mo Vaughn combined for the feat against the Padres at Qualcomm Stadium. It was only last season that the Mets were involved in a game that featured an inside-the-park home run and triple play. On Aug. 23, Pagan had the home run, and the Mets suffered a 9-7 loss to the Phillies when Eric Bruntlett turned an unassisted triple play to end the game.

After Hernandez opened the fifth with a single and Nyjer Morgan walked, Cristian Guzman punched a sinking line drive to centerfield. But Pagan, who already made a spectacular diving catch in the fourth, sprinted in to make a shoestring grab this time.

"I knew we had the triple play," Pagan said. "Maybe I threw a little too high for [Jose] Reyes, but we got it done."

Henry Blanco snatched the throw near the mound and alertly threw to Reyes covering second to double up Hernandez. With Morgan stuck on that same bag, Reyes got him, too, by firing to Ike Davis at first.

Pagan's historic night started in the fourth with the inside-the-park home run to the deepest part of Nationals Park.

Pagan easily slid in ahead of the throw home, then popped up and pumped his fist as the Mets celebrated in the dugout. Unfortunately for them, it didn't last.