Sports

LOST WEEKEND – FIASCO LEAVES METS WITH 2ND LOSS IN A ROW

Officially, the Dodgers only took batting practice from noon to 1 p.m. yesterday. But after the 14-3 whipping they put on the Mets at Shea, it seemed like BP lasted all afternoon.

The Dodgers pounded out 14 runs and 14 hits, eight of the extra-base variety.

And by the time this rout was done, Met starter Rick Reed found himself shelved with a strained right middle finger, reliever Chuck McElroy found himself in left field, infielder Matt Franco found himself on the mound – where have we seen this before? – and the Mets found themselves suffering back-to-back losses for the first time in a month.

“If you watch baseball enough you know the other team has their day, too. And their hitters really had their day today. The ninth-place hitter, the sixth-place hitter did some damage on us,” said Met manager Bobby Valentine, who watched his Amazin’s fall to 67-45 and fail to take advantage of Atlanta’s 5-2 loss to the Giants.

So the Mets stayed only a half-game up on second-place Atlanta in the NL East. But they may have lost yet another pitcher in the process.

Reed (10-4) had been red-hot of late – 7-0 in his last 11 starts – but he lasted just 12/3 innings. After he walked Craig Counsell with his 26th and final pitch of the day, Reed grimaced and was pulled by Valentine and pitching coach Dave Wallace.

Reed initially was diagnosed with a strained right middle finger. And even though an MRI showed no structural damage and the injury didn’t appear to be as serious as John Franco’s, Valentine said he expects Reed to miss at least a start.

Former starter Masato Yoshii – sent to the bullpen last week – replaced Reed, and suffered one of the worst outings of his career.

He ran a full count on opposing pitcher Darren Dreifort (9-11), who not only broke his three-game losing streak but turned on Yoshii’s belt-high offering and drove it 408 feet to center for a three-run homer.

In all, Yoshii gave up five earned runs in just three innings, and bolted the clubhouse before most of the media arrived.

“It can’t be helped, being as there was no time to warm up,” said Yoshii, who threw just a few warm-ups tosses – possibly unaware that, when a pitcher leaves with an injury, his replacement has all the time he needs to get loose.

Pat Mahomes followed and was charged with three more runs in 21/3 innings, giving up sixth-place hitter Raul Mondesi’s three-run shot on his first pitch of the game in the fifth, and a two-run shot to Mondesi (2-for-4, five RBIs) in the seventh. That blast that stayed just fair pushed the lead to 11-1.

McElroy gave up two more in the eighth, and by the ninth the Mets were down 13-3 with only Turk Wendell fresh in the bullpen, so Valentine brought Matt Franco in to pitch for the second time this season, and sent McElroy out to left field. And in truth, that combination may have been the Mets’ best of the afternoon.

Matt Franco gave up just one run, the least of any of the five pitchers who toiled for the Amazin’s. After Paul Loduca led off the ninth with a single and Adrian Beltre walked, Counsell hit a flare to left that looked sure to drop. But McElroy – playing a step in from the track – made a brilliant running catch.

“It was about the only good thing to come out of today’s game,” said McElroy, who played outfield in high school. “Bobby told me I was going out in left and my eyes got big, and I said ‘Okaaayyy….’ It was just an ugly game for everybody, but we didn’t lose ground, so that’s good.”

Then Franco caught Dave Hansen looking with what the Shea Stadium scoreboard operators called an 81-mph cut fastball for the second out.

“I think they were guessing, ’cause I was guessing,” admitted Franco, who nearly hit Mark Grudzielanek in the head, then walked him to load the bases, and walked Todd Hollandsworth to force in a run. But Franco got Hubbard to fly out to right to end the inning.

“[Reed’s injury] kinda let the wind out of our sails, and the home run by the pitcher set the tone for the rest of the game,” said Met catcher Mike Piazza. “It’s unfortunate, but we’ve got to regroup, go out and get back to the things we need to do to win.”