METS ALL WET
Hefner & Co. flop after rain delay
WASHINGTON — With the game delayed at the start by nearly 2 hours Sunday, the Mets and Jeremy Hefner might have preferred if it had been washed out entirely.
At the end of a hard slog t h roug h Cinci nnati a nd Wa shington, the Mets waited most of the afternoon to start the final game of the road trip — and then lost to Gio Gonzalez and the Nationals, 5-2. Hefner allowed five runs on eight hits in five innings, and team boarded its waiting Amtrak train having lost four of six games since last seeing New York.
“We’re not exactly playing great right now,” said Terry Collins. “We competed, and that’s what we wanted to do, and we can’t let down.”
The six-man rotation experiment began on Sunday, with Hefner reclaiming his spot after a brief stint in the bullpen. The purpose of this move was to help every Met starter in one way or another: Johan Santana and Chris Young would be able to rest a day longer in between starts while still recovering from major shoulder surgery, Matt Harvey could finish the season without bumping into an approximately 170-inning limit and Jon Niese could finish a season, period.
For Hefner, the change brings both risk and opportunity. Used as a reliever in between starts, the rookie is working in a role that not many have been asked to play. Hef ner sa id that the unique role did not leave him less prepared to start Su nday. “It just comes down to execution, and I d id n’t execute,” he sa id. “I didn’t get away with any (mistakes).”
But he also has the chance show the Mets, and scouts from other organizations, that he can perform in the major leagues. On this day, he left disappointed.
Against one of the best lineups in the National League, Hefner fell behind early, allowing a leadoff single in the second, and a Danny Espinosa home run shortly thereafter.
One inning later, more damage. Jayson Werth led off with a single, and jogged home when Bryce Harper launched a laser to right-center. Before descending the dugout steps, Werth turned around and pointed to Harper, while the crowd — most of which had sat through the delay — rocked Nationals Park. For the first time in a generation, Washington seems like a baseball town.
Gonzalez, the lefty acquired last winter from Oakland, is one of the faces of that vibe. On Sunday, he pitched well enough through 52⁄ innings to improve
3 his record to 16-6. The Mets’ first threat came in the fourth inning, which Ronny Cedeno began with a triple. But Gonzalez stranded him at third.
With that opportunity squandered, the Mets soon fell further behind. Harper is barely batting .250, but when he connects he does so with authority — as he did when homering in the fifth. He increased his team’s advantage to 5-0, which was soon cut to 5-1 when Ike Davis doubled in the sixth and scored on a groundout.
The Mets crawled another inch forward in the eighth, when Kelly Shoppach drove in a run, but Hefner’s deficit proved insurmountable.