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ATLANTA – When the Mets played their season-opener at Turner Field, the message board inside the road clubhouse read, “Welcome to the National League Champion New York Mets.”
As they began the second half of the year yesterday, the same board read, “Welcome to the New York Mets.” The reference to the National League Champions was gone, erased along with any hope for this year.
The 82nd game of the season looked much like the previous 81 yesterday, the Mets losing to the Braves, 5-2, in front of a sellout crowd of 49,568.
There was the obligatory wasted chance in the first inning. There was a continuation of the club’s mental miscues. Most of all, there was little production from the meager offense, which went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
The Mets, who have lost eight of their last 10, scored their only runs on a second-inning sacrifice fly by Desi Relaford that plated Todd Zeile, and an RBI ground out by Jay Payton in the eighth that brought home pinch hitter Lenny Harris. Robin Ventura ended that inning by striking out with pinch hitter Mark Johnson on second.
“I’m pretty sick of it,” said Ventura, who went 0-for-4 and left runners in scoring position in three of his at-bats. “I’m sure other people are sick of it.”
Al Leiter held the Braves to three runs through the first five innings, but a sixth-inning throwing error by Ventura led to two more runs. And when the Mets fall behind 5-1, Yogi is the only one who could keep the faith.
“We just haven’t been able to score runs,” said Relaford, one of the only Mets who can hit these days. “That’s the bottom line.”
The Mets lost their 47th game of the season yesterday. They didn’t lose No. 47 last year until August 8, in game No. 111. Leiter lost that game, too, dropping to 12-5 with a 3.28 ERA. This year, his ERA is 3.47, but his record is 4-7.
The chances of things improving aren’t good either. While Mike Piazza hobbled into the clubhouse yesterday because of his fractured big left toe, Edgardo Alfonzo was in Durham preparing to play in a rehab game for Triple-A Norfolk last night. It feels as if the team is becoming resigned to the fact that the rest of this season will be just an 81-game fade to black.
To be held down by Greg Maddux is nothing to be ashamed of, but bad teams can’t afford bad decisions. And the Mets made several bad decisions yesterday.
Joe McEwing has provided the Mets with energy and, more importantly, results. He led off yesterday with a double. Here come the Mets, right? Nope.
Payton hit a grounder to third and, with the play in front of him, McEwing, for some reason, broke for third. Chipper Jones tagged him out threw to first for a double play.
“I took us out of an inning,” McEwing said. “It’s bad base-running.”
The game fell apart for Leiter in the sixth. Ventura’s throwing error allowed Mark DeRosa to hit a two-run single to right. The game was over.
“I’m beyond all the things that have been going on around here that are so obvious,” said Leiter. “You are almost sick and tired of saying, ‘Oh, that’s baseball. That’s the type of stuff that happens in baseball.’ It is what it is.”