Those Mets

ANGUISH IN WISCONSIN

On a day where the Phillies stole the spotlight behind Roy Halladay's perfect game, the Mets woes continued as they dropped another road series, this time in Milwaukee to the Brewers. In a game that became a battle of the bullpens, Met pitching gave up eight runs on nine hits. Fernando Nieve lost his bid to remain in the rotation with a horrendus performance that began with a first inning grand slam to last night's hero, Cory Hart. Daily News: The Mets were road kill once again Saturday night as Fernando Nieve's spot start was a dud and the Met bats, though productive, couldn't keep up with the powerful Brewers. Nieve was gone after two poor innings and Corey Hart hurt the Mets with homers again as the Mets fell, 8-6, to Milwaukee in front of 37,841 at Miller Park. Hart, who won Friday night's game with a homer to abruptly end the Mets' 35-inning scoreless streak, slugged a grand slam off Nieve in the first inning and a two-run blast off Oliver Perez in the third, giving him homers in three consecutive at-bats. The Mets fell to 6-16 on the road this season, where they can't score when they pitch well and can't keep the other team from scoring too much when they do. Entering play yesterday, the Mets were tied for the fewest road wins in the majors. The consecutive losses to the Brewers have knocked the Mets (25-25) back to .500. Nieve (1-3), who was making his first start of the season after spending the first two months in the bullpen, allowed five runs, three hits and three walks. He gave up a solo homer to George Kottaras in the second inning. Perez, banished to the bullpen earlier this month, gave up three runs, three hits and two walks in two innings. Elmer Dessens threw two scoreless innings of relief. Ike Davis hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning that brought the Mets to within 7-6, but the Mets couldn't get any closer. They had several chances, but left the bases loaded in the third and fifth innings and stranded two in the second. Brewers pitchers retired the final 13 Mets. And things had started so well for the Mets when Jose Reyes led off with a walk, stole second and scored on Jason Bay's double. Nieve retired the first two hitters in the first but then gave up a double to Ryan Braun and walked two to load the bases, setting up Hart's slam. Nieve threw 46 pitches in the inning, another reason his outing was doomed. Both teams kept scoring. Angel Pagan singled to start the second, stole second and scored on a single by Reyes, but Nieve gave back the run by allowing Kottaras' homer after striking out the first two batters in the second. In the third, the Mets loaded the bases with one out and scored when Rod Barajas hit a soft grounder to short, but they could get no more. Perez replaced Nieve to start the third and gave up Hart's second home run, giving the Brewers a 7-3 lead. Davis hit a towering three-run homer to right in the fourth inning, bringing the Mets to within one run, but the Brewers blunted any momentum in their half of the inning when Rickie Weeks led off with a triple into the right-field corner and scored when Braun hit into a double play. Before the game, Jerry Manuel noted that he had three long relievers - Raul Valdes, Dessens and Perez - available for multiple innings, a fail safe the manager would eventually need because Nieve, not stretched out as a starter, would have a limit around 80 pitches. He didn't even reach that, throwing only 62, 34 for strikes. Because it was Nieve's first start, Manuel admitted he did not know what to expect and even said that since Nieve has been struggling with his secondary pitches in his relief role, there was no reason to expect his changeup and slider to be good last night. Sadly for the Mets, the manager was right. Before he was tabbed for the start, Nieve was tied for the major-league lead in appearances by a reliever with 27 and was the first Met in club history to appear in 19 of the team's first 30 games. Nieve will be back pitching out of the pen in a few days, after he has recovered from last night's outing. The Mets were hoping the man who was 3-3 with a 3.12 ERA in seven starts last year could transition back into the rotation briefly with some success but it didn't work.