SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — These are the kind of nights that make you believe the Mets are not contenders.
R.A. Dickey’s knuckler couldn’t handle the tropical heat against the Marlins, who crushed the Mets 10-3 at Hiram Bithorn Stadium.
Jason Bay finally found his big fly stroke, blasting two home runs, but Jose Reyes was dreadful on the artificial turf, committing one error and he easily could have been charged with another. He was picked off first base in the first to set the tone and had two brutal strikeouts. Perhaps he was out of sync playing so close to his home in the Dominican Republic.
“I was too excited,” Reyes admitted, “but there are no excuses.”
Several Mets said the ballpark lighting was not up to major league standards and that contributed to their dark night. Manager Jerry Manuel said his club has to show it can handle all types of elements and distractions.
“I think there was a lot of activity, but to be a good team, you have to remain somewhat in character regardless of what the activity it is surrounding you because these are different tests in going forward to trying to establish, whatever happens, we’re still going to play good baseball,” he said. “We didn’t do that tonight.”
No they didn’t. To top it all off, the train that passed them by earlier in the day was the Cliff Lee Train because of the shoulder injury to Jenrry Mejia.
The Mejia injury, which was diagnosed as a posterior cuff strain yesterday, is terrible news and it raises the question whether the bullpen work Mejia did for Manuel has come back to haunt the Mets. Manuel doesn’t think so. It’s difficult to blame a manager for using the bullets in his bullpen.
Joe Torre did it all the time and was considered a baseball saint.
This injury, though, is even more reason for the Mets to make a deal. Last night could be a sign of things to come if the Mets don’t add reinforcements. At the least they should be paging Roy Oswalt.
The loss made the Mets 3-9 on the road against the NL East. That’s not going to get it done. Several Mets told me that management “has to step up and add a pitcher.”
Noted Manuel: “I think every club that is in the position we’re in, is looking to solidify that. Just like anybody in baseball would think, the best way to solidify that is pitching. I wouldn’t be against it.”
Manuel is going to need bullpen help, too. That’s why adding a starting pitcher and putting tonight’s starter Hisanori Takahashi back to the pen is key.
Mejia can resume throwing “as tolerated.” One source said what that means is that Mejia was overthrowing and suffered the strain. Mejia is going to have to learn how much to give on each pitch. It’s part of the growing process.
Don’t forget that Mejia was hurt at almost the same time last season when he suffered a strain of the middle finger on his pitching hand.
For now, the Mets need to shut him down for a while. “There goes Lee, though,” noted one Met. If the Mets are going to make a trade, it will be with other prospects.
There could be a silver lining. Mejia could become a starter for the Mets instead of being a trade mistake for a Lee rental. Mejia made 30 appearances with the Mets, pitching 272⁄3 innings. All those were in relief. Since 2008 Mejia had been a starter, all but seven of his 49 minor league appearances were as a starter.
When asked if the Mejia setback is a setback to trade possibilities, Minaya said, “I don’t think so because I think we have other very good possibilities.”
If that’s really the case, go out and make a deal. The division is wide open and these Mets need help ASAP.
kevin.kernan@nypost.com