The Mets blew yet another large lead in their loss to the Washington Nationals tonight, 9-6, as they continue their spectacular effort to give away the division lead in the National League east. Combined with the Phillies victory over the Braves, this puts their lead down to just one game, the smallest margin since sometime in May.
Two home runs by Carlos Beltran and one by Moises Alou early on were not enough to stake rookie pitcher Philip Humber, making his major league starting debut in the middle of this heated pennant race, to a victory. Manager Willie Randolph removed him with a 6-2 lead in the fifth with two on and zero outs, but reliever Joe Smith was tonight's bullpen arsonist as the Nats put up 5 in the inning to give the visitors the lead they wouldn't relinquish.
The Mets could muster no serious offensive rally after that, and even the return of Orlando Hernanadez could not really energize the deep faith in their fans that this team would rally to win this game. The appearance of Billy Wagner for the top of the ninth with the Mets still trailing by just one run could not instill that confidence either, as the Nats struck for 2 more runs to seal the game on this night.
About the only small bit of comfort I'm getting is that several other playoff contending teams are struggling with the same things that the Mets are, and there is still a small voice nagging away at the back of my head telling me that if the Mets just somehow make it to the playoffs, then their chances are just as good as anybody else's. That's true to a point, I'll admit, but I do hope that's not just a major case of wishful thinking on my part; all evidence since September 12th, when the Mets were 21 games over .500, to the contrary. Since that date, the Mets have lost 9 of 13, and of those losses, they've blown leads in six of them, most of those losses having allowed one big inning to the opponent, when either the pitching or defense leaves the team high and dry. To be fair, the Mets have also rallied for two victories in that time, but seeing as how they came against the Florida Marlins, the worst team in the division, in the series before this, I'm also not building a whole lot of confidence for the last few days, other than the fact that the Mets end the season with the Marlins at Shea this weekend.
The good news, for tonight anyway, and unless the Mets find themselves in a race for the wild card, is that the Padres, who have a one game lead over the Phillies in that race, are leading the Giants 2-1 in the fifth inning. This game is also noteworthy in that it marks the San Francisco finale for some guy named Barry Bonds.
METS BOXSCORE
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