| |
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
|
GAME LOG
NEW YORK (AP) -- The only thing the New York Mets are hitting
hard right now is their equipment.
A night after Mike Hampton took on the water cooler, Turk
Wendell took out his frustration on his glove, throwing it into the
stands in disgust as the Mets lost meekly again, 6-3 to the
Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday.
"How many rows deep did it go in?" Wendell asked. "Make the X
Games on that one. It was definitely my longest toss."
Robert Person (8-5) and five relievers combined on a six-hitter,
sending New York to its 15th loss in 17 September games dating to
last year.
New York, which seemed a lock for the playoffs 10 days ago, is
1-7 this September and saw its wild card lead cut to 3½ games over
Arizona. The Mets remained 3½ games behind NL East-leading Atlanta.
"It comes to be a pride thing," said Mike Piazza, one the Mets
whose average is dropping along with the temperature. "It's
embarrassing and it's frustrating. You can't win every game. If you
lose, you lose with dignity, but you want to feel you're out there
doing your job. Obviously, we're not."
Todd Zeile, celebrating his 35th birthday, was part of the
meltdown, drawing a line in the dirt with his bat for plate umpire
Travis Katzenmeier, who called him out on strikes in the seventh.
Edgardo Alfonzo, with just eight errors coming in, helped the
Phillies by missing a pair of grounders in the seventh _ one ruled
a hit, the other an error. The crowd of 42,324 turned on New York,
booing the sloppy display.
"We've just got to battle out of this," Mets manager Bobby
Valentine said. "We have to pull some magic. I'm supposed to find
a way out of it."
Since pounding the Diamondbacks' Randy Johnson on Aug. 25, the
Mets' bats seem to be infected with a team-wide virus: They have
just 34 runs in 13 games and are hitting .198 (81-for-409).
Piazza is batting .278 (10-for-36) with a pair of solo homers
for his only RBI in that span.
Alfonzo is hitting .238 (10-for-42) with five RBI, Zeile .111
(4-for-36) with three RBI and Robin Ventura is .070 (3-for-43)
with two RBI, going hitless in his last 22 at-bats.
"This game," Piazza said, "is impossible to play when you're,
for lack of better words, pressing, trying to force pitches, trying
to force swings, make things happen, reaching for something that's
not there, somewhere between aggressive and too aggressive. You
have to allow your ability to take over."
Philadelphia came to New York with the worst record in the major
leagues, losers of eight straight, scoring 16 runs in the skid.
But the Mets scored just three runs in the first two games of
the series, reminiscent of the 1998 slide that caused them to miss
the playoffs and the one last year that nearly cost them a
postseason spot.
Person improved to 3-0 against the Mets in his career, allowing
one run and three hits in six innings.
"We're in a position to do some damage to potential playoffs
teams, just like last year," he said.
Pat Burrell's RBI double put the Phillies ahead in the sixth,
ending Glendon Rusch's scoreless streak at 16 innings, but Alfonzo
doubled home a run in the bottom half.
Wendell (7-5) relieved to start the seventh and allowed
pinch-hitter Travis Lee's single past shortstop leading off.
Bobby Abreu then hit a hard grounder to second that Alfonzo
should have turned into a double play, but the ball skipped past
him -- it was originally called an error, then changed to a hit --
putting runners on second and third.
Doug Glanville followed with a go-ahead sacrifice fly, with Lee
just beating Piazza's tag at the plate following Timoniel Perez
strong throw from center.
After an intentional walk to Scott Rolen, Burrell lined an RBI
single over Alfonzo. Wendell faced one more batter, retiring Brian
Hunter on a foul pop, then was taken out.
That's when he tossed his glove over the Mets' dugout as he
walked off the field, as a way of purging the defeat.
"If you're dating a girl and having a bad time all the time,
get a new one and make yourself happy," Wendell said.
On Friday night, Hampton threw his glove and punched water
coolers when he came out after allowing Rolen's two-run,
eighth-inning homer.
"It is what it is," Valentine said. "I don't control emotion.
If you have to let it out, let it out. They always say it's better
than keeping it in."
Derek Bell homered off Vicente Padilla with two outs in the
eighth, but Brian Hunter hit a three-run homer off Armando Benitez
in the ninth. Benny Agbayani homered in the bottom half off Jeff
Brantley.
On Sunday, the Mets face Omar Daal, at 3-17 the losingest
pitcher in the major leagues this season. On Saturday night, the
Mets weren't feeling much consolation.
"I'm not saying anything," Piazza said. "I'm not. You can't.
We're going to go after him like any pitcher."
Game notes
Phillies aren't hitting much better than the Mets. They
were batting .186 in their previous nine games (54-for-291) before
getting 12 hits Saturday. ... Bell made a leaping catch against the
right-field fence on Burrell's drive in the fourth. The ball
probably would have hit the top of the fence. ... Burrell slipped
on wet grass rounding third in the sixth and had to hold up,
costing Philadelphia a run.
| |
ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Philadelphia Clubhouse
NY Mets Clubhouse
RECAPS
NY Yankees 5
Boston 3
Cleveland 9
Chi. White Sox 3
Oakland 10
Tampa Bay 0
Toronto 6
Detroit 5
Baltimore 10
Anaheim 3
Texas 6
Kansas City 5
Seattle 7
Minnesota 2
Colorado 7
Los Angeles 6
Houston 14
Chicago Cubs 4
San Diego 7
San Francisco 3
Arizona 4
Florida 1
Cincinnati 6
Pittsburgh 4
Montreal 7
Atlanta 5
Philadelphia 6
NY Mets 3
St. Louis 7
Milwaukee 6
|