LOS ANGELES — Now this is what everybody thought the Mets would resemble minus Jose Reyes.
Slow. Sloppy. Overmatched.
After four straight victories without their stud shortstop, the Mets hit a wall. Reyes was finally placed on the disabled list yesterday with a sore left hamstring, and the Mets followed with a 6-0 loss to the Dodgers before an announced sellout of 56,000 — on Andre Ethier bobblehead night — at Chavez Ravine.
The bad news for the Mets is they are done with the downtrodden Dodgers for the season and now jump into a hellacious stretch against playoff contenders. They will have to be much better than last night to stand a chance.
Clayton Kershaw (9-4), the first of an ensemble of All-Star starting pitchers the Mets will face in the coming days, fired eight shutout innings on a night Dillon Gee continued his recent struggles. The Mets also matched a season high with three errors.
“It was just a night where [the Dodgers] needed a good start out of their ace, and they got it,” manager Terry Collins said. “We’re very happy. We came in and had a very good series without Jose.”
The Mets (45-43) will face three more All-Star starters — Ryan Vogelsong, Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain — beginning tonight at NL West-leading San Francisco, in a three-game series to wrap up the season’s first half. When the Mets return from the All-Star break, they will play the first-place Phillies and Cardinals, with a makeup game against Florida sandwiched in-between. Let the real challenge begin.
Last night’s hopes of a four-game Dodger Stadium sweep disintegrated for the Mets in the sixth inning, when the Dodgers scored five runs, knocking out Gee (8-3) in the process.
Gee lasted 52/3 innings and allowed six runs, five earned, on five hits and one walk. It was Gee’s third start in his last four in which he allowed at least four earned runs.
It all unraveled for Gee after Matt Kemp delivered a two-run double in the sixth to give the Dodgers a 3-0 lead. Juan Uribe followed with an RBI double, and Aaron Miles’ double with two outs brought in another run. The scoring concluded on Dioner Navarro’s triple against Manny Acosta.
“The key point of that inning was me leaving a changeup up to Kemp,” Gee said. “He’s a good hitter and he made me pay for it.”
Kershaw barely hit a speed bump the entire night. Manager Don Mattingly opted to leave the lefty in the game with two outs in the eighth and the bases loaded. Mattingly’s faith was rewarded as Ronny Paulino struck out to end the inning.
Gee allowed an unearned run in the second on Aaron Miles’ sacrifice fly — a call that plate umpire Greg Gibson appeared to botch. Jason Bay made the catch on Miles’ fly and threw home to Paulino, who seemed to swipe Uribe with the tag before he reached the plate. Uribe was called safe.
Collins was not ejected despite his vehement objection. It came a night after Gibson, umpiring first base, appeared to miss a call that would have given the Mets a double play. Between innings last night, Collins viewed the tape of the Paulino tag play, and then let Gibson have it.
“Between innings, I yelled ‘He was [bleeping] out,’ “ Collins said.
mpuma@nypost.com