Those Mets

BOO'D METS LOSE IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE TO PHILLY

David Wright and the Mets gave fans little to cheer about Saturday night against the Phillies, so the Citi Field faithful took to booing instead. They booed Wright when he struck out in the fourth inning with Jose Reyes on third base and one out. They booed Wright louder when he played a routine ground ball into two unearned runs in sixth inning, and they let him have it one last time after he hit a comebacker in the bottom half of the inning. And to cap a night's worth of unhappy howling, Mets fans booed closer Francisco Rodriguez -- who made his return from a two-game suspension after being arrested for third-degree assault Wednesday night -- when he trotted out of the bullpen in the ninth inning. The Mets loaded up the bases in their final at-bat, but were unable to mount a comeback as they fell, 4-0, to the Phillies and Roy Halladay, who allowed four hits and no walks while striking out seven over eight innings of work. "I don't think you're going to win too many games making three errors, no matter who you're facing," Wright said. Second baseman Ruben Tejada, who is hitless in his last 26 at-bats, allowed the Phillies' first unearned run to score in the fifth, when he botched a double play, throwing the ball into left field. The fielding mistakes and struggling offense squandered a solid outing from Pat Misch, who made his first start of the season after being called up from Triple-A Buffalo. Misch scattered eight hits over six innings and allowed only one earned run. "We got ground balls when we needed them and didn't execute," Mets manager Jerry Manuel said. "In order for us to do well against that type of a pitcher, we have to catch everything. We have to execute." Manuel said he felt Misch pitched well enough to merit another start, meaning the left-hander could fill the fifth spot in the rotation for the rest of the season, with Hisanori Takahashi making a permanent move to the bullpen. "I kind of got rid of pressure a few years ago. You're going to have some good games and you're going to have some bad games, and hopefully you have more good games than bad games," Misch said. "I try not to think about all that kind of stuff, where we are -- that kind of stuff. I just want to go out there, grab the ball and get as many outs as I can." The Mets' mistakes were most glaring in the field, but they were equally unimpressive at the plate. Their best chance to score came after Reyes led off the fourth inning with a triple, but Halladay got Angel Pagan to ground out to third, and struck out Wright -- who is now 4-for-41 in August -- and Carlos Beltran to end the inning. "We have to do a better job of executing there; our situational hitting has been poor," Manuel said. "We got to do a better job. I feel like we got the right guys up, and we're not getting it done at the plate." The Mets were held to one or zero runs for the sixth time in 12 games this month, and are now seven games behind the second-place Phillies, who scored their first runs at Citi Field this season after being blanked for 38 innings. "It took us 38 innings, but we put one across," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "It's pretty easy to count. Four games plus two innings. Even I can count that far." The Mets still have a chance to win the series with a win on Sunday, but trading wins and losses isn't going to get them back in the NL Wild Card race at this point of the season. New York's best hitter is slugging .122 this month, its closer is due back in court on Sept. 14, and its starting rotation still isn't set for the stretch run. "That's something that I can't control," Rodriguez said of being booed. "It's out of my hands, and I still have to go out and do my job." And when Rodriguez and other members of the Mets are unable to do their job, the fans will be sure to let them know it.