MIAMI — The Mets can exact a sliver of revenge on the Marlins this weekend by eliminating their nemesis of the past two seasons from playoff contention, but you won’t hear anything about that from David Wright.
Fresh off the Mets’ 23rd loss in their past 31 games and their eighth in a row to the once-rival Braves, Wright admittedly is showing the strain of a lost, miserable season.
It is clear the Mets’ All-Star third baseman can’t wait for the season’s final nine games to be cleared from the deck.
“It’s obviously been a disappointing season,” Wright said. “At the end of the year, I’ll try to look back and make some improvements, clear my mind and get ready for next year. But it’s obviously been a grind. There’s no other way to explain it.”
When you’re 65-88 in a season that began with legitimate World Series hopes, fans and media start asking what lessons can be learned from such a disaster. According to Wright, a prideful player who couldn’t be more obviously disgusted by the Mets’ injury-riddled pratfall, there are none.
“There’s not many positives we can take away from this year as a whole,” he said. “It’s not a learning process dealing with failure. I’m ready after that last out to turn the page and get ready for next year, because this hasn’t been fun for anybody. In fact, it’s been very disappointing.”
Wright also refuses to make excuses, even in the face of a torrent of injuries that saw Mets players log more than 1,000 days combined on the disabled list — by far the most in baseball — and included Wright’s first career trip to the DL.
As far as Wright is concerned, the Mets have been their own worst enemy this season. That’s why you won’t find him talking about the possible elimination of the Marlins this weekend as payback for Florida’s two recent season-ending wins at Shea Stadium.
“It’s no fun this time of year playing for moral victories, but it is what it is,” Wright said. “We put ourselves in this position, so we’ve got to finish out as strong as we can and hopefully on a positive note. We need guys going into the winter feeling good about some individual performances.”
That includes Wright, who already crushed his personal career high for strikeouts in a season (131) while logging a career-low 10 homers in his first year at overly spacious Citi Field.
Wright is hitting just .235 (19-for-81) with five extra-base hits and a whopping 26 strikeouts in 22 games since returning Sept. 1 from a concussion caused by being hit with Matt Cain’s 94 mph fastball. Manager Jerry Manuel has noticed the strain.
Wright admitted that the beaning is still in the back of his mind when he steps into the box, so Manuel hasn’t ruled out giving Wright a break or two during the final 10 days of the season.
“For everybody, the losing is really difficult,” Manuel said when asked if the recent losses — several of them blowouts — were wearing on Wright. “It takes a lot out of you.”
Wright isn’t packing his bags just yet, though.
“I take a lot of pride in my at-bats, and these last few games, I’m going to go out there to play to win the game,” he said. “Nobody’s packing it in. There’s too much and too much competitiveness in this room. We’re going to go out there and finish as strong as we can.”
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After strongly considering pulling Pat Misch from the rotation even in the final 10 days of the season, Manuel is listing Misch as the Mets’ starter for Sunday’s series finale against the Marlins.
Since picking up his first career win Sept. 3 at Colorado, Misch is 0-3 while allowing 17 earned runs and 21 hits in just 12 1/3 innings.