PHOENIX — The ship be sinking and the skipper is wearing lead boots.
After two months off the hot seat, manager Jerry Manuel is back on it. A Mets source told The Post yesterday not to assume the manager is safe just because COO Jeff Wilpon backed Manuel in mid-May when the team’s season appeared spiraling out of control.
The Mets are back on that course. With last night’s 4-3 loss in 14 innings at Chase Field, they are 1-6 since the All-Star break and became the first team swept in a three-game series by the lowly Diamondbacks since August of last year.
Before the game, Manuel called a 15-minute meeting to clear the air, after a stretch of lackluster play that culminated with Alex Cora barking toward Mike Pelfrey and reporters who were joking at the pitcher’s locker following Tuesday night’s loss.
Chris Snyder’s RBI single in the 14th won it against Fernando Nieve last night, after Justin Upton doubled leading off the inning.
Oliver Perez, who was activated from the disabled list before the game, escaped the bases-loaded jam he created in the 12th by retiring Stephen Drew and Adam LaRoche. Perez drilled Gerardo Parra with one out in the 13th before Nieve entered and got the final two outs.
The Mets lost for the 16th time in 24 games and remained 6½ games lengths behind Atlanta in the NL East.
How bad was this one? The Mets managed only one hit after the sixth inning against the worst bullpen in the majors. Jason Bay had the roughest night, finishing 0-for-6 with four strikeouts. Cora was also 0-for-6 and David Wright and Ike Davis were 0-for-5.
“Offensively, we’re just not clicking,” Manuel said. “We’ve got too many guys that are not hitting, and that’s not a good way to operate. It just kind of shackled us late against a bullpen that for the most part has struggled.”
If Wilpon does pull the trigger on his manager it almost certainly won’t happen before the Mets finish this 11-game road-trip — which wraps up with a four-game series in Los Angeles beginning tonight.
“This reminds you a lot of the way the season started for us,” said Rod Barajas, whose Mets were 4-8 two weeks into the season.
Jon Niese took a no-decision after allowing three runs – all on solo homers – over five innings. It was Niese’s worst start in a month and forced the Mets’ bullpen into extended duty for the second time in three games.
The Mets made it 3-3 in the sixth on Barajas’ solo homer with two outs. It was Barajas’ 12th homer of the season, but first since May 31, a span of 96 at-bats.
Angel Pagan’s homer in the first against Dan Haren gave the Mets a 1-0 lead before Carlos Beltran’s RBI single in the third tied it 2-2, following homers by Chris Young and Rusty Ryal. Mark Reynolds homered in the fourth to put the D’backs ahead 3-2.
Things reached a boiling point after Tuesday’s 3-2 loss to the D’backs. Cora was miffed about the light-hearted laughter in the clubhouse and lashed out toward Pelfrey and reporters gathered at the pitcher’s locker.
Cora yesterday said frustration was at the root of his outburst. But he doesn’t regret it.
After the Mets were swept four games by the Marlins in May, falling to 18-20, Wilpon made an impromptu appearance in Atlanta, where he met with Manuel and the coaching staff in the manager’s office before a game against the Braves. The Mets rebounded and surged a season-high 11 games over .500 on June 27. This recent free-fall began with the team’s three-game series against the Marlins in Puerto Rico at the end of June, in which the Mets lost two of three.
Wally Backman, who is managing at Single-A Brooklyn, might have the inside track on taking the managerial reigns if Manuel is fired. One line of thinking is Backman is among the few legitimate candidates that might energize an increasingly dissatisfied fan base.
And the last thing Wilpon wants is another August and September of empty seats at Citi Field with the Mets playing meaningless games.