FAMILIA STORY
L.A. SCORES TWO IN NINTH TO TAKE SERIES /
Dwight Gooden walked by Terry Collins’ pregame session with the media and the Mets manager yelled out, “You got an inning in you tonight, Doc?”
Gooden laughed off the question, but maybe the Mets could have used the old right-hander in Sunday’s 4-2 loss to the Dodgers, as Jeurys Familia faltered in the ninth for a second straight time after the Mets tied the game in the eighth off Clayton Kershaw and reliever Adam Liberatore.
After loading the bases with one out, Familia permitted a two-run single to Adrian Gonzalez to give the Dodgers the lead for good.
It erased an unlikely comeback, as Curtis Granderson strode to the plate for the most important at-bat of the game and instead of looking at Kershaw on the mound, he found a different — much less intimidating — lefty.
Granderson made the Dodgers pay for manager Dave Roberts’ curious decision to pull Kershaw with two outs in the eighth and a runner on first by belting a triple to right off Liberatore to score Kevin Plawecki from first to tie the game and prevent Kershaw from winning his sixth game of the month.
But Familia, coming off a nightmarish performance against the Dodgers on Friday, when he blew a four-run lead in the ninth — only to be bailed out by Granderson in the bottom of the inning — was rotten again.
And this time, the Mets couldn’t save him against Kenley Jansen.
Kershaw wasn’t perfect on Sunday.
Asdrubal Cabrera touched him for a solo homer with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, but the three-time NL Cy Young Award winner allowed just three other hits on the night.
Kershaw threw 114 pitches — two shy of his season-high.
Pulling him backfired, but the Mets weren’t able to take the lead, as Cabrera whiffed to leave Granderson at third.
Bartolo Colon did what he could to battle with Kershaw, but Chase Utley proved to be a thorn in the Mets’ side again.
The Dodgers second baseman, after being the center of attention Saturday, was in the middle of things again Sunday.
This time, he started things with a single to right with one out in the third.
Corey Seager followed with another hit to right, sending Utley to third.
Utley then scored to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead — not surprisingly, with some controversy involved.
Wilmer Flores made a diving stop of Justin Turner’s grounder to third and threw to second to get the force on Seager, but Turner easily beat Neil Walker’s throw to first, allowing Utley to score.
But the Mets challenged the play, arguing that Seager slid late, violating the new slide rule that has been put into effect largely because of Utley’s slide that took out Ruben Tejada in last year’s NLDS.
The challenge was rejected and the run counted.
The Dodgers made it 2-0 (a seemingly insurmountable lead against Kershaw) in the fifth.
Colon got the first two outs of the inning before allowing three consecutive singles — including an RBI hit to right by Gonzalez.
Kershaw had allowed just three runs in 42 innings in May heading into Sunday night, while striking out 55 and walking just two.
And a Mets lineup that was without David Wright (neck), Lucas Duda (back) and had Lagares hitting fifth figured to be little match for the left-hander.
He retired 11 straight between the doubles by Granderson and Walker and then another six straight before Cabrera’s homer.
Perhaps the lone bit of good news for the Mets is the fact that Kershaw, Utley and the rest of the Dodgers left town Sunday — and the reeling White Sox are set to start a three-game series in Queens on Monday.