Don’t get even — get mad. Then get ejected.
If that formula sounds a little twisted, consider the state of the Mets, who aren’t much of a sight to behold offensively when Rod Barajas isn’t hitting home runs.
The only hiss and vinegar on display from the Mets last night came from Jose Reyes and manager Jerry Manuel — for all the wrong reasons. Reyes was called out on strikes by plate umpire Laz Diaz to end the seventh inning, threw his bat and helmet and promptly was ejected. Manuel got tossed moments later.
The others in the home dugout snored their way to a 3-2 loss to the Nationals before 29,313 at Citi Field.
On Sunday, David Wright was ejected by Paul Schrieber after taking a called third strike in the ninth inning. The Mets are clearly mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. It’s too bad they can’t take out their frustration on the ball instead of the umpires.
“It is [frustration], because we’re trying to be good,” Reyes said after the Mets’ second straight loss. “We don’t want to be in a situation where I strike out with somebody on base. When that happens you get frustrated a little bit.”
Manuel applauded Reyes’ display of emotion.
“It doesn’t bother me when a guy is passionate about what he does and is fighting,” Manuel said. “It’s like David [Sunday]. Those are moments everybody recognizes the game is in balance. I don’t like a guy getting thrown out, but I applaud the fight.”
The Mets left 11 runners on base and were 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position. They at least managed to make it interesting in the ninth on Angel Pagan’s solo homer against Miguel Batista, which accounted for the final run.
The strikeout that got Reyes ejected couldn’t have come at a worse time. The Mets (17-15) had just pulled within 2-1 on Luis Castillo’s RBI single before Reyes left two runners aboard by taking strike three on a borderline pitch — it may have been low — from reliever Tyler Walker.
But Reyes wasn’t the only one to strand runners. Barajas left two runners aboard in the eighth against former Yankee Brian Bruney and Batista retired Jason Bay for the final out with the tying run on base in the ninth.
“The one thing I thought coming into spring training is we wouldn’t have problems scoring runs,” Jeff Francoeur said. “And we’ve got to pick it up.”
Washington starter Luis Atilano (3-0) was a handful for the Mets. The right-hander allowed five hits over 5 1/3 shutout innings before Doug Slaten entered and needed only one pitch to escape a jam.
Ike Davis hit a bloop that Ryan Zimmerman caught and fired to first, catching Wright off the bag for a double play to end the sixth inning.
John Maine (1-2) gave the Mets a third straight strong performance by holding the Nationals to two runs on seven hits and four walks over six innings.
Adam Kennedy and Zimmerman hit consecutive home runs for the Nationals in the third to take a 2-0 lead. Ivan Rodriguez’s RBI single in the eighth brought home the Nationals’ final run.
“When we’re successful, we jump on starting pitchers early and then we continue on them,” Wright said. “It’s a good sign that we are putting runners out there. We just have to cash them in.”