Chipper Jones’ final Flushing visit ended the way so many others had before it, with the Mets being swept at the hands of the Braves, mired in yet another season gone awry. After yesterday’s 3-2, 10-inning loss, one almost wishes they could appeal to play the rest of their games on the road, anywhere but here.
They had to watch the crowd of 23,161 give noted Mets-killer Jones a standing ovation as he stepped into the batter’s box as a pinch hitter in the ninth inning. And when it was over, after Brian McCann’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly off Bobby Parnell (4-4) plated the eventual winner in the 10th, the Mets had lost 19 of their last 23 at Citi Field.
“We’re running out of ideas, we really are. It’s about grinding it out right now, having some confidence in your ability and what you trust and try to put the barrel on the baseball,’’ manager Terry Collins said. “There are no gimmicks you can really use at this level. These guys are very talented players, gifted athletes; once in a while you’ve got to let them play, let their abilities take over.’’
Citi Field seems to deaden those abilities. The Mets failed to exceed three runs for the 10th straight game here, their worst streak in 24 years and just one shy of a dubious franchise record. They might as well plaster “Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter” over their clubhouse.
“We’ve researched it. We’re going to try something new [today]. Believe me, we’ve wrung the rag dry trying to come up with some answers to why we don’t hit the ball in this park,’’ said Collins. “We’re going to change some pregame preparation stuff, see if that works. You’ll see. We’re going to try a different approach.’’
Chris Young pitched a quality start, and the score was tied at 2-all when Jones — who didn’t start because of a sore left knee — got an ovation for his ninth-inning pinch-hit appearance. A cautious Frank Francisco promptly walked him on four pitches.
“It was cool. I heard a bunch of boos in there smattered, but for once the cheers outnumbered the boos,’’ said Jones, who gave way to pinch-runner Reed Johnson. “I just came up in a situation where I don’t think Francisco was going to let me get a real good swing at one.’’
Francisco acknowledged as much, saying he knew Jones was ready to swing even at 3-0, so he threw him a splitter. For his part, Francisco — who got Eric Hinske to ground out, and fanned Michael Bourne to strand Johnson at third — added it was odd to hear the home crowd cheer Jones, but not offensive.
“It feels kind of weird … because they’re supposed to be coming here to support us,’’ said Francisco. “But whatever those fans do, he deserves it. He’s been in the game a long time, he’s a great player. I bet wherever he goes he’s probably going to get the same reaction. He’s one of the best. It doesn’t bother me; I think he deserved it.’’
Martin Prado singled to lead off the 10th, and after Jason Heyward grounded out, Freddie Freeman and Dan Uggla walked to set up McCann’s sac fly. Peter Moylan pitched a scoreless 10th, retiring David Wright on a fly ball to strand Jordany Valdespin for his first save. Craig Kimbrell (1-1) got the win.
The Mets went 2-9 with men in scoring position, and are hitting .205 with RISP since the All-Star break. They’re 19-35 since the break. … They moved Matt Harvey’s last start up a day to Tuesday Sept. 18 against Philadelphia. Jenrry Mejia is slated to pitch Sept. 19.