David Wright slides into second base as Danny Espinosa turns a double play in the fourth inning. (Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — Terry Collins’ nostrils flared a bit. You could tell he was serious.
“This is an important part [of the season] where this thing could go flat,” the Mets manager said, “and we’re not going to let it.”
This was before the Mets would lose 4-3 to the Nationals last night, extending their losing streak to six games, including an 0-for-5 skid since the All-Star break.
Collins might look like a man in charge of a sinking ship, but he’s not about to give up his grip on this team. Not without a fight. The fiery Collins isn’t big on team meetings. But he assembled his players before yesterday’s game to check their psyche and make sure they don’t start pointing fingers.
He was particularly annoyed at comments attributed to reliever Pedro Beato who hinted catcher Josh Thole could have done a better job collaring his wild pitch that allowed the winning run to score in Tuesday’s 5-4 loss in 10 innings.
“Unfortunately, Thole wasn’t able to get to it,” Beato was quoted as saying. “It got away from him.”
The Mets are far from turning into Flushing’s version of the Bronx Zoo, but after the game Collins explained why he called the meeting.
“The one thing I want these guys to understand is there’s accountability here and we don’t point fingers at anybody,” he said. “When things aren’t going good we take our licking. Otherwise, we continue to watch each other’s backs and keep moving forward.”
The Mets status became even more dire last night as a two-run homer by Adam LaRoche and a two-run double by Steve Lombardozzi scored enough runs to keep the Mets in their misery. You could say the team meeting had no effect since the Mets lost, but it wasn’t meant to be a one-game gut check.
Collins is smart enough to understand camaraderie and chemistry have been the team’s biggest assets next to its starting pitching. Despite Miguel Batista’s postgame pronouncement that the Mets are “the best team in baseball,” the hitting has been spotty, the bullpen is unreliable and there isn’t much team speed. But the Mets made up for all that by playing a spirited never-say-die brand of baseball that has earned them enough wins to stay in contention.
But it’s not a stretch to say the season is on the brink. A loss this afternoon would send them limping back to Citi Field with a .500 record.
Collins said he knows his team is young and hasn’t really faced this kind of adversity. He might need to be a better manager in the clubhouse than on the field over these next couple of days.
“One of the keys to trying to manage is making sure your young players don’t get too uptight or try to go out of what they do well, try to do too much or try to do more,” he said.
The Mets weren’t tight last night. They were just outplayed. Chris Young gave up a two-run homer on a decent pitch off the plate to LaRoche in the sixth. Batista was responsible for the two-run double in the seventh. Defensively, Nationals center fielder Bryce Harper seemed to run down everything hit hard by the Mets. It was one of those games.
Collins has plenty to deal with these days. In addition to monitoring the psyche of his team, he’s trying to coax Lucas Duda out of his hitting slump, work through a maddening bullpen and give Jason Bay every opportunity to be factor over the second half of the season.
Some eyebrows were raised when Bay was in the lineup a night after he went 0-for-3 and was pinch-hit for in the ninth inning, where Jordany Valdespin belted a three-run home run. But Bay rewarded the manager’s faith with two hits, including a solo-home run in the ninth.
That might have been the only positive to emerge from another lost night.
george.willis@nypost.com