Those Mets

METS SWEPT IN MIAMI

NIGHTMARE FOUR GAME SWEEP COMPLETED AS METS LOSE 8TH OF LAST 11 GAMES

An injury, some poor defensive play and a loss all combined to make Sunday afternoon look like a brief review of last year’s horrors for the Mets. The Florida Marlins defeated the Mets, 10-8, to complete a four-game sweep and send the Mets to their fifth straight loss. But the loss was only part of the misery as the Mets lost starting pitcher Jon Niese, who left the game with an injured hamstring. His status for his next start, and perhaps more after that, was uncertain. Niese left the game in the third inning with an aggravated right proximal hamstring. He was fielding a bunt by Gaby Sanchez near the third-base line, and after he pivoted and threw the ball wildly toward first base, he bent over and grabbed the back of his leg. He remained in the game and threw one more pitch to Hanley Ramirez, but then bent over again in obvious discomfort. After a brief visit to the mound by the training staff, Niese was removed from the game and replaced by Hisanori Takahashi. Niese will return to New York for further medical evaluations Monday, but it would be surprising if he is able to make his next scheduled start Friday against the Yankees at Citi Field. Last year, in a season full of injuries, Niese had surgery to repair a torn hamstring tendon in his right leg. He had to be carried off the field last August after the injury; Sunday he was able to walk off on his own and he did not appear to be limping much. Still, the Mets will have to find another replacement starter, and that could be Takahashi, the left-handed relief pitcher from Japan. The Mets are already looking for a starter for Wednesday’s game against the Nationals in Washington after Oliver Perez was demoted. The left-handed reliever Raul Valdes is the leading candidate to make that start if the Mets do not promote a minor leaguer. As for Takahashi, he did not throw particularly well Sunday, allowing two runs in three innings, but more important he threw 59 pitches, which almost certainly eliminates him from consideration for Wednesday’s start. Niese gave up five runs, but only one of them was earned because of his throwing error and another by David Wright that combined to account for four unearned runs as the Mets fell behind, 7-0, after five innings. They scratched their way back to 7-6, but in the bottom of the seventh Chris Coghlan hit a three-run pinch hit home run off Fernando Nieve to extend the Marlins’ lead. The recent call-up Chris Carter batted cleanup and had a run batted in for the Mets, and Wright and Alex Cora each knocked in two runs as the Mets scored eight runs for the first time since they beat the Nationals, 8-6, on May 11, the date of their last victory. Jason Bay hit third for the first time since last year when he was with the Red Sox. He collected two hits, including a triple in the ninth inning.