Those Mets

WRIGHT AND PELFREY BOTCH GAME, SERIES, METS STRUGGLES CONTINUE TO DEPLETE CHANCES

For the Mets, this has become a matter of slow self-destruction. Few would argue that they rank among the most talented teams in the league. They do not. And so the Mets must play flawless baseball to retain their slimming chance at a playoff berth. Wednesday represented the antithesis of that ideal. Committing three of their season-high four errors in one inning and receiving another inadequate start from Mike Pelfrey, the Mets dropped a messy 8-3 game to the Braves at Turner Field. Already urgent, the Mets' quest has now reached critical status. If they do not win this weekend's series in Philadelphia, they may quickly become a Major League afterthought. "I was a little shocked," manager Jerry Manuel said, "that we played this way defensively." Already trailing by three runs, the Mets kicked away any chance at a comeback when Jose Reyes, Ike Davis and David Wright all committed miscues during a four-batter span in the sixth. First it was Reyes, allowing Melky Cabrera to reach base on his second throwing error of the game. Then, after Omar Infante's single, it was Davis booting a ball to load the bases. And finally it was Wright, firing wide of second base on Chipper Jones' potential double-play ball. Watching the theatrics unfold from the mound, Hisanori Takahashi admitted through his interpreter that it was "kind of difficult to stay focused on the batters" -- and rightfully so. Ground ball after precious ground ball rolled its way through the infield grass, resulting not in outs but in distress. "It was bad," Manuel said. "We're a better team than that. We've got to get back on that track of pitching and good defense." The first part of that equation was no better. In what Manuel called a critical start for his struggling right-hander, Pelfrey allowed a single run in the first before serving up back-to-back home runs to Jones and Brian McCann in the third. Then, after McCann hit an RBI double in the fifth inning, Pelfrey plunked Matt Diaz with the bases loaded. It was hardly a matter of stuff for Pelfrey, who appeared markedly better than he had in any of his previous handful of starts. "We got the hard-throwing Pelfrey tonight," Jones said. "The last time we faced him in New York, he was throwing 90-91. Tonight he came out and he was throwing 96, 97." But a lack of command and an unreliable split-fingered fastball hurt Pelfrey, who allowed five runs, three earned, in 4 2/3 innings. It marked the seventh consecutive start in which Pelfrey could not complete six innings, and the fourth time over that span that he could not complete five. "The team needed me to step up and be a lot better than I have been," Pelfrey said. "Giving up five runs isn't cutting it, so I take full responsibility for tonight." There would be no late rally for the Mets, who netted two runs off Braves starter Kris Medlen -- who left due to a right elbow injury in the fifth -- and another against Peter Moylan in the seventh. But by that point, the outcome was hardly in doubt. The Mets were all but packing their bags, preparing for a long, silent flight to Philadelphia. "We didn't really do anything right," Wright said. "It wasn't just the fact that we threw the ball around. Our pitchers got hit around. Offensively, we didn't do anything. And then we threw the ball around. Of course you're going to lose that game." For much of the past month, the Mets have been searching for a turning point -- and Wednesday's game may have been it. Already pointed south, the Mets managed to turn more squarely in that direction. They slipped a rung, or perhaps even several. And now to climb back up will take all their energy, all their skill, a newfound fundamental soundness and still a bit of luck. It is possible, yet improbable. Mostly, the Mets are hanging on the hopes they have provided with their own shattered history. In 2007, the Mets famously lost a 7 1/2-game divisional lead to the Phillies with 17 games to play. Now, they trail the Braves by that same 7 1/2-game margin with 54 to go. "So we know that by no means are we out of it," Wright said. "But at the same time, we've got to get hot and go on some streaks." This week represented an opportunity for the Mets to win a series against a first-place team, to poke their heads above water and announce their intentions to the rest of the league. Instead they did none of that, leaving Georgia with a sick feeling in their collective gut. "I knew this game was important," Pelfrey said. "I knew we had a chance to win a series, which is what it's all about."