Those Mets

A FAMILIAR FEELING

THOSE METS COLLAPSING
14 INNING LOSS CAPS OFF SWEEP FROM HELL

After finding success in the weeks following a team meeting in his office in May, Mets Manager Jerry Manuel tried the trick again Wednesday, although this time in the more spacious visitors clubhouse at Chase Field. In May, the Mets lost their first game after the cramped office confab but went on to win the next five games in a row and went 23-8 after that to draw to within a half-game of first place in the National League East. The Mets can only hope the pattern will hold, because after Wednesday’s meeting, the Arizona Diamondbacks prevailed, 4-3, in 14 innings. Pinch hitter Chris Snyder singled to deep left against Fernando Nieve to score Justin Upton from second with one out as the last-place Diamondbacks completed their first three-game sweep of the season at the expense of the Mets, who fell to 1-6 on the trip. The loss was the 11th of the season for the Mets in the opposition’s final at-bat, and it was the 11th straight game in which they scored four or fewer runs. In the bottom of the 14th, Upton led off with a double into the left-field corner and Nieve walked Miguel Montero intentionally, bringing Mark Reynolds, who already hit his 22nd home run earlier in the game, to the plate. Nieve struck out Reynolds looking, but Snyder ripped a ball over Jason Bay’s head in left to end the game. In the bottom of the 12th, Oliver Perez escaped a bases-loaded situation in his first appearance since being recalled from the disabled list earlier in the day when Adam LaRoche flied out to deep left field. Starter Jon Niese lasted only five innings, giving up three runs, all on home runs to Chris Young, Rusty Ryal and Reynolds. Angel Pagan homered for the Mets in the first inning, and Rod Barajas hit his 12th homer of the year and first since May 31 to tie the score at 3-3 in the sixth. Before the game, Manuel called a meeting to remind his flagging team that they are good enough to make the playoffs. At the time, the Mets had lost five of their first six games on this 11-game trip, and with four more games remaining against the Dodgers in Los Angeles, the season had reached a critical stage. So Manuel gathered his players and coaching staff and gave them a positive speech, telling them that the team was good, despite the recent results, and not to get discouraged. He told them that there were enough games remaining for the Mets to make the playoffs. “We felt coming on this trip that the one good thing about this trip was that it’s early enough in the second-half schedule that if it’s what it is, we still feel we have a good enough team and enough time to overcome that,” Manuel said. “You don’t want to necessarily see that manifested, because that puts some pressure and a sense of urgency on the club. That’s kind of the thinking.” Manuel was hoping to regain some of the momentum from a May 21 meeting in which players and coaches jammed into his office at Citi Field to discuss some of the negativity swirling around the club at the time. Wednesday’s meeting came a day after tension surfaced in the clubhouse after the Mets’ 3-2 loss to Arizona. After the game, Alex Cora yelled at members of the news media who were laughing in the clubhouse along with Mike Pelfrey, who was not a target of Cora’s invective. Cora yelled for reporters to “have some respect” after the loss. Pelfrey sent Cora a text message Tuesday night apologizing, and on Wednesday did so again in person when he ran into Cora at the team hotel. But Cora told Pelfrey he did not even realize he had been part of the levity. His displeasure was with reporters, several of whom apologized to Cora. “Nothing against you guys,” Cora said Wednesday. “It was just a one-time thing. But it was too much.” Manuel said he was pleased that Cora took responsibility to set the right tone in the clubhouse, which was something he would do a few minutes later in the meeting. “He’s a pro, and he knows the etiquette of baseball and the locker room, those types of things,” Manuel said. “That’s just a normal reaction of a guy who knows the responsibility of how you should react in certain situations.” (NY Times)