Dead or alive, they should keep

Friday night the strains of Bon Jovi could be heard long before the clubhouse doors opened after the Mets’ 6-1 loss to the Rockies. The clubhouse was filled with loud music on orders from Terry Collins to try to rally the mood around Citi Field, but it seemed few players had the heart for it.

The Mets lost their third straight Friday night, unable to score with runners in scoring position yet again. After the Mets failed to score with two on and noouts in the eighth, recording three outs on three straight pitches, the crowd of fans wearing their white Mike Piazza giveaway jerseys lumbered toward the exits looking like zombies.

Still the Mets manager was looking for signs of life.

“First of all we have a good team. We’re going through a rough time right now, we haven’t hit with runners in scoring position, but we’ve got to quit rubbing it in their faces every day. We’ve got to lighten it up a little bit,” Collins said. “We’ve got a lot of games to play. We’re not dead, we’re still in the hunt and we need to loosen up a little bit, all the way around.”

But the Mets should not loosen their grip on their prospects to help this team right now.

With rumors floating around about the Mets’ front office trying desperately to find a bat before Monday’s non-waiver trade deadline, Friday was just another message to GM Sandy Alderson that he should not mortgage the future for a shot at the one-anddone wild card.

It’s starting to look unlikely.

The Mets fell 2.5 games behind in the race for the second wild-card spot, and seven games behind the NL East-leading Nationals, who were playing later in San Franciscio.

A team source confirmed reports that the Mets inquired about Reds outfielder Jay Bruce Friday afternoon, apparently looking to add insurance for a bangedup Yoenis Cespedes. By the evening, it seemed the Reds had moved on to talk to other teams about Bruce, and the Mets should let them keep going.

Given their situation and their depleted farm system after last year’s midseason deals, the Mets cannot afford to give up top prospects. With a fairly weak market of available players, it seems the Mets know this. One front office source said Friday that “this might not be the year for a big move.”

Still, there seems to be some lastgasp, perhaps ill-fitting attempt to shake up the lineup as indicated by the interest