Former Met Jose Reyes is whooping it up after hitting a first-inning solo home run to set the Marlins off on a 13-0 rout that gave the Amazin’s their ninth loss in a row at home. (Paul J. Bereswill)
UP AND DOWN: While Mets manager Terry Collins sits in the dugout with a pained look on his face (right), former Met Jose Reyes (left) is whooping it up after hitting a first-inning solo home run to set the Marlins off on a 13-0 rout that gave the Amazin’s their ninth loss in a row at home. (
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The Mets should be glad Jose Reyes is back in town, because he gives fans something to get upset about other than their own team.
While the shortstop continues to hear boos every time he steps to the plate at Citi Field, his former team has seen their home park become a house of horrors.
After last night’s 13-0 drubbing to the Marlins, the Mets have lost nine in a row in Queens — their longest streak in eight years.
“I guess you go through streaks like this,” Josh Thole said.
This loss was particularly ugly.
“I don’t have answers,” Ike Davis said. “We didn’t do anything well. It’s hard to win when you do nothing right.”
For example, Chris Young was knocked out after just 4 1/3 innings, giving up seven runs on seven hits — including three home runs. The bullpen wasn’t much better. Offensively, the Mets went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left 10 on base.
It added up to the Mets’ fourth loss in their last five overall as their latest second-half slide continued. Nowhere have the team’s deficiencies been more apparent than at Citi Field — where they are now 26-28 on the season.
“We understand to compete, you have to take care of business at home,” David Wright said. “You’re not going to be unbelievably successful on the road to make up for losing nine in a row at home. I think our preparation is good, I just don’t think we’re executing at 7 o’clock.”
The results haven’t been pretty.
“Winning at home is really fun here in New York,” Davis said. “The only thing it’s going to do is get [the fans] a little more agitated, but that’s not causing us to lose games.”
No, but the failure can have a carryover effect.
“When you’re going through good times, like when we were playing good baseball earlier in the season, it’s a lot easier and everyone’s a little happier,” Davis said. “And when you start getting beat like we have [recently], it’s tough mentally and it’s agitating. It brings out a lot of frustration and definitely, you can beat yourself down.”
That’s the next challenge for manager Terry Collins and his team, as the positive memories from the surprising first half fade away.
“Last year, we didn’t play good at home, and it was a huge concern of mine,” Collins said. “The ballpark is reconfigured and we had confidence playing here in the first half.”
If that confidence hasn’t disappeared, it certainly is waning.
“Right now, there’s nothing we do that’s right,” Collins said. “We’ll find out who wants to compete the last 50 games of the season.”
Young (3-6) surrendered three runs in the first — with one coming on a Reyes homer — and was worse in the fifth. He allowed four straight batters to reach before Carlos Lee hit a two-run bloop single. Giancarlo Stanton followed with his second two-run homer of the night — a laser to left that ended Young’s night. The right-hander has just one victory in his last seven starts.
The defeat also dropped the Mets to 7-18 since the All-Star break. About the only thing going well lately has been Ruben Tejada, who extended his hitting streak to 13-games with a third-inning single. That number is overshadowed by Reyes’ 26-game streak (longest in the majors this season), but the Mets have bigger problems than that.
“We’re not playing good baseball when we’re at home,” Thole said. “Losing [stinks] anyway, but in front of your home fans, it feels like you’re letting them down.”