ATLANTA — The Mets’ capacity for medical misery does seem bottomless, doesn’t it?
Just when they thought it couldn’t get any worse on the injury front, the Mets added starter Fernando Nieve’s strained right quadriceps to the insult of a 7-1 loss here tonight to the Braves.
Nieve is headed to New York today for an MRI exam and most likely a spot on the Mets’ almost laughably crowded disabled list, which has nine players on it at the moment.
The Mets, who fell a season-high nine games behind the Phillies with the loss, probably can’t ignore Jonathon Niese now after Nieve injured his leg running out a ground ball in the second inning.
Nieve suddenly collapsed in foul territory after stepping on first base, grabbing his leg and writhing in pain. The right-hander was tended to by the training staff, then helped to his feet and taken away on a cart.
Tim Redding was immediately summoned to replace Nieve, who had thrown 16 pitches tonight before suffering the injury.
Jerry Manuel had said before tonight’s game that he was still reluctant to call up up Niese, despite the young lefty compiling a 5-0 record and 0.96 ERA with two complete-game shutouts in his past eight starts at Triple-A Buffalo.
Manuel said the internal scouting reports hadn’t been as glowing as Niese’s numbers, but the Mets likely will have no choice but to turn to Niese or fellow Buffalo starters Nelson Figueroa or Ken Takahashi to fill what could be a lengthy absence for Nieve.
The Mets can bring up a position player for the next few days because Nieve’s turn in the rotation doesn’t come up again until Saturday. Then again, the rotation spot of Livan Hernandez — tomorrow night’s starter in Washington — also is shaky due to shoddy performance.
In other words, the Mets’ rotation is as big of a mess as their performance tonight once Nieve left the game.
Redding was awful yet again, giving up a homer to the second batter he faced (Yunel Escobar) and lasting just three-plus innings.
Considering the Replace-Mets practically need an act of Congress to score more than two runs these days, Manuel’s club was dead and buried by the time Redding departed having given up five runs (two earned) on four hits and three walks.
While Escobar was terrorizing the Mets with a 3-for-4 night that included four RBIs and fell a triple short of the cycle, Manuel’s patchwork lineup — minus Gary Sheffield (hamstring) for the second day in a row — was being shut down by a sub-.500 pitcher.
Atlanta’s Javier Vazquez improved to 7-7 by limiting the Mets to just six hits with the help of two relievers. Even more embarrassing, the Mets managed just one hit after piecing together their lone run on a walk and two singles in the third inning.
The Mets scored just nine runs combined in their first series after the All-Star break while dropping three of the four games.
With no official date for Sheffield’s return and the bulk of their lineup still encamped on the DL, runs figure to be even harder to come by in the near future unless GM Omar Minaya swings a trade.
bhubbuch@nypost.com