LOS ANGELES – It’s shameful now. The Mets’ skid is mind-boggling, and they know that in their current state, they’re far from what they should be.
Billy Wagner willingly admitted he’s embarrassed. The closer knows that the Mets have been disgraceful lately.
“I’m sure Omar [Minaya] didn’t put this team together expecting this kind of play,” Wagner said last night. “Fred Wilpon, he didn’t shell out all that money for us to go play like this.”
Not to play anywhere close to how they’ve been playing. David Wright was correct after Tuesday’s loss, saying that “it’s beyond a little slump” for the Mets.
It’s actually probably beyond a big slump now, too. They’ve now lost nine of 10 and dropped 11 of 14 after last night’s 9-1 rout in which they were again hammered by the bottom of the Dodger lineup and again looked terrible defensively.
For the first 50 games of the season, the Mets were fantastic. For their last 14, they’ve been atrocious.
“It’s not stunning,” manager Willie Randolph said of a team of his caliber struggling for such an extended period. “It’s reality. It happens.”
The Dodgers swept them in three games in L.A. – the second time the Mets were swept in their last three series. The Mets have today’s day off and then head to The Bronx for a weekend set against the Yankees, and right now they lead the NL East by only two games over both the Braves and Phillies.
“Why not play the best?” Wright said of the Yanks. “That’s what we have to do.”
Wright said after the game that the Mets have to “turn it around fast.”
The third baseman added, “I think group talks are pretty overrated,” but admitted that, “it wouldn’t surprise me if something like that happened.”
“It’s rough,” Shawn Green said. “We’re not really doing anything right.”
Wagner, meanwhile, mentioned the Mets’ “sloppy play and lackadaisical efforts.” Asked if he was disappointed with the effort, he replied, “I think we all are.”
Last night, Jorge Sosa suffered the Mets’ fifth straight sub-par start – an entire turn by the rotation – allowing six runs in 52/3 innings and saying his location wasn’t good. Defensively, though, Jose Reyes also dropped a throw for what probably would have been a double play (instead the Mets got zero outs), and the Mets simply didn’t hold L.A. to the minimum on its hits – every time the Dodgers seemingly could get an extra base on a hit, they got it.
The Dodgers put up three runs in the fifth to take a 3-1 lead, then added a trio of tallies an inning later. Rafael Furcal had two triples in the game, while Wilson Betemit – who came in hitting .212 but who also homered off the Mets on Tuesday – homered and drove in two runs. The Mets were 2-for-10 with men on base.
Earlier in the game, Green had an issue with Dodger starter Brad Penny. After striking out against Penny in the third, Green said Penny told him that someone with the Dodgers thought he was “relaying the location” of where Dodger catcher Russell Martin was setting up. Green insisted it “wasn’t the case” and called it “just a little bit of paranoia.”