Mets’ Inconsistency Continues…

Marty Noble, of www.mlb.com, writes about the Mets’ inconsistency. One step forward and one step back; the perplexing Mets continued to dance in a most curious way on Friday night. The scores of the games in this inter-borough, inter-league doubleheader -- Mets 15, Yankees 6 in Game 1, and Yankees 9, Mets 0 in Game 2 -- convey the message just as well.

Two teams, two games, two parks and, for the Mets, two personalities. And too bad. A victory in the second game and a sweep might have reinforced this team where it sags, might have have lit a ... or it might not have mattered.

Instead, the Mets' schizophrenia continued in grand style. After they established a season-high runs total at Yankee Stadium in Game 1, they moved to their own property and, nonetheless, equaled their season low and allowed gloom -- or was that indifference? -- to displace the glow of what they had accomplished in the afternoon.

And who can explain why? Not manager Jerry Manuel. By the time he was involved in the postmortems, midnight loomed, as did a late-afternoon rematch on Saturday.

"It can't be explained," was the new manager's take. "It'll drive you crazy if you try to figure it out."

Inconsistency has been the Mets' method for most of the season. Two days before their 15-then-zero turnaround, they scored eight runs in the first three innings and never produced so much as a baserunner in the five subsequent turns at bat. No one had a viable explanation for that either. But that performance was self-contained in a victory. What damage did it do?

(Very baffling, and frustrating to score 15 runs in game one, provide so much joy, and optimism, then, be shut out by Sidney Ponson, and the Yankee bullpen, in game two.)

But losing on Friday came with a cost. Their deficit in the National League East standings would have been decreased to two games. They would have been closer to first place than they have been since May 18. Winning would have made their winning percentage higher than .500 for the first time since June 5.

The first game had brought them such joy. Carlos Delgado had hit two home runs, one a grand slam, and established a club-record nine RBIs in one game. And the Yankees' chance for redemption rested with retread starter Sidney Ponson. Moreover, Pedro Martinez was to start for the Mets.

But Ponson shut the Mets down for six innings, and Martinez set up the Yankees for 5 2/3. He was effective for three innings, allowing two baserunners, both on singles. But before he could achieve another nine outs, he had allowed four more hits, five walks, hit a batter and was unable to cover first base.

The Yankees had leadoff batters reach base in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings on a walk, Martinez's defensive lapse and a hit batsman. Each leadoff runner scored. Martinez didn't have pitches to get outs. The Mets threw a "but he's healthy" bandage in his second successive poor start, as if health were the most critical factor.

His velocity appeared lacking, though the Shea Stadium scoreboard measured at least one pitch at 94 mph.

Martinez now carries a 7.12 ERA, and he has provided scant evidence that he can be handed the responsibilities of a No. 2 starter. Game 1 winner Mike Pelfrey (5-6) achieved two fewer outs than Martinez (2-2) and allowed more hits. But he repeatedly pitched his way out of jeopardy -- as Martinez is expected to.

Martinez has lost his two most recent starts, and the Mets have lost four of the six games he has started this season, including their second game in Miami when he injured his left hamstring. He has allowed 12 runs in his most recent 10 innings.

(It’s obvious Pedro is no longer the same pitcher. What does he have left to provide for the rest of this season ?)

"Just one of those games," Manuel said. Or is it just another one of those games?

With the Mets unable to do anything with Ponson (5-1), Martinez's inadequate performance proved troubling. As a result, they suffered their first loss in four games against the Yankees this season. The shutout was the second against them in four games -- they had been shut out once previously -- and the loss was their fifth in 10 games since Manuel replaced Randolph.

Pitching in the big leagues for the first time since his final start for the Rangers on June 4, Ponson limited the Mets to five hits -- nine fewer than they produced in the first game of the twin bill -- in six innings.

"Baseball is such a fickle game," David Wright said. "And our offense has been inconsistent, too. This kind of thing happens. You can't predict it or explain it."