NewsMets unable to pick up Maine
Beltran lone hitting star against Pineiro, Cardinals
By B.J. Rains / MLB.com
04/23/09 12:56 AM ET
ST. LOUIS -- Anyone wanting a quick summary of the Mets' first 14 games of the season can look no further than Wednesday night's 5-2 loss to the Cardinals.The starting pitching -- which has been subpar outside of Johan Santana -- struggled, as John Maine walked five and gave up five runs in 5 2/3 innings.
And the offense, which has scored just seven runs in its past three games, again stalled, putting only two runs on the board against Cardinals starter Joel Pineiro.
The two problems which have caused New York to stumble to a 6-8 record to start the season again doomed the club on Wednesday.
"We have to get better," said manager Jerry Manuel. "No doubt about it, in order to give ourselves a chance to win."
The Mets trailed early as the Cardinals took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a sacrifice fly by Albert Pujols. After an RBI single by Daniel Murphy tied the game in the top of the third, St. Louis added two runs in both the third and fourth innings to take a 5-1 lead. The score stayed that way until the ninth, when Carlos Beltran doubled in a run to make it 5-2.
Maine threw 111 pitches, giving up seven hits to go along with his five walks. He fell to 0-2 with a 7.47 ERA in three starts to open the season.
"I'm a better pitcher than this," Maine said. "I am working hard between [starts] but I'm just not getting the results right now. It's going to turn it around, because a lot of times I am making the pitches that I want to make, but I'm just a hair off. I think once I get that I will be fine, but it's frustrating."
The Mets' rotation is now 13th in the National League with a 5.19 ERA, and their 37 walks tie for the second most in the league.
"It's frustrating, not only for me, but for them as well," Manuel said. "We can't continue to perform and pitch in this manor and expect to be champions of this division. We have to pitch a lot better than we are doing. It's as simple as that.
"That's been the Achilles' heel so far. We haven't gotten the starting pitching that we expected at this point."
While some could have seen the pitching woes as a possibility, the lack of offense has been surprising to everyone involved. The Mets are third in the NL in batting average at .283, but 11th in the league in runs scored at just 4.4 runs per game.
The Mets have just 36 extra-base hits, good for 14th in the league, including only four in the past two losses against the Cardinals.
"We're in a tough spot right now," said David Wright. "We are struggling a bit. We need to continue to put together some good at-bats, and hopefully those line drives and hard ground balls will start finding some holes and we can start producing some runs.
"We just got to weather this storm because we're not playing very well, and hopefully [we] get hot soon."
Looking for ways to jumpstart the stagnant offense, Manuel will shake up the lineup for the series finale on Thursday afternoon against the Cardinals. In addition to flipping Wright and Beltran in the order, Manuel plans to give Gary Sheffield the start in left field, and he will insert infielder Alex Cora and catcher Omir Santos into the lineup, as well.
"We still think we have a good offensive club," Manuel said. "We've shown that with the amount of hits that we've got. What we haven't shown is the ability to get the two-out hits or the big RBIs. Hopefully with this little lineup tomorrow, we can get something going."
Two weeks into the season, the Mets sit in fourth place in the NL East. It's not the start that anyone saw coming, both from the mound and at the plate.
"I am a little bit surprised," Beltran said. "I thought we were going to be in better shape right now. But we have time to turn things around. We have a great ballclub. It's all about putting everything together."
Something that Manuel and the rest of the Mets hope will begin to happen soon.
B.J. Rains is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
