METS NEED HELP&...
Cespedes limps off as skid hits 4
Except for the Piazza party, Saturday was just another bad day for the struggling Mets.
The ceremonies to retire Mike Piazza’s jersey seemed to give the Mets an early jolt, but by the end of the night, all the attention was on negative stuff — how the Mets lost yet again, this time 7-2 to the Rockies, how Yoenis Cespedes’ thigh still hurts and that the Mets lost out on trade target Jonathan Lucroy.
Clusters of fans from those remaining from a sellout crowd of 42,207 on a drizzly night booed after the final out as the Mets dropped their fourth straight game, falling to 6-9 since the All-Star break. They are just three games over .500 and have scored only 40 runs so far in the second half.
“It’s what, four in a row,” Terry Collins said of the losing streak. “I’d say that’s not going in the right direction.”
Bartolo Colon, pitching on three days’ rest for the first time since 2005, allowed five runs in five innings and the Mets made three errors. The Rockies are no longer Amazin’ patsies — the Mets carried an 11-game winning streak against Colorado into this season, but the Rocks have won all six meetings this year.
Perhaps as painful as another loss was Cespedes’ situation. He was double-switched out of the game in the sixth inning with the Mets trailing by only three runs.
“I am assuming right now he’s probably playing with more discomfort than he’s letting on,” Collins said. “I knew before the game he was really in great spirits and then all of a sudden I could see a difference. I said what’s going on and he said ‘My leg’s getting tight.’”
Both Collins and Cespedes say the slugger won’t need time on the disabled list.
“We’re going to do the best we can to make sure he stays off the DL,” Collins said. “We need him. We need his bat in the lineup. If we need to give him a day, every other, every third day or so, we’ll do that.”
“I’m about 85-90 percent,” Cespedes said.
After two innings, the Mets actually led, 2-0, getting two hits with runners in scoring position. Their stats in such situations are embarrassing — they entered Saturday batting .202 with RISP and if they ended the season with that average, it would be the second-worst in baseball history. Only the 1969 Padres (.201) were worse.
The Mets couldn’t muster any more offense until the ninth inning and even that was taken away. Wilmer Flores lost a home run when a fan reached out to snag his drive and Collins was ejected afterward. Flores had rounded the bases, but then umpires called for a crew chief review. The fan’s glove is clearly over the orange line, just above David Dahl’s mitt and the home run was overturned after a 2:46 delay for the ruling.
Collins and Flores argued that Flores should’ve have been awarded a double. “You can’t f---ing assume” Dahl catches the ball, Flores said.
Flores became just another out in a string of 16 consecutive ones for the Mets to end the game on a dismal day that also included Jose Reyes going on the disabled list and another primary playoff competitor — this time, the Nationals — adding an elite player for the stretch run. Washington traded for ex-Pirates’ closer Mark Melancon to bolster its bullpen, a day after the Marlins added depth to their starting rotation.
The Mets, meanwhile, were talking to the Brewers about Lucroy, but Milwaukee reached a deal with the Indians for the catcher.
Collins, who on Friday pledged to have fun and stay positive, tried after Saturday’s game, too: “We’ve still got to come here every day and grind it out,”
the manager said.