 08/22/2002 02:53 am ET
Frustration boiling over for Mets
Winless streak stretched to 10 games with latest loss
By Chris Shuttlesworth / MLB.com
SAN FRANCISCO -- After his Mets dropped their 10th straight game and wasted another solid pitching performance from their starter, manager Bobby Valentine couldn't contain his frustration any longer.
"It's a frickin' shame, that's what it is," he said, referring to Al Leiter's 1-0 loss Tuesday night and John Thomson's 3-1 setback Wednesday. "Two great performances -- John was terrific tonight. ... It's sickening."
And then he kicked his desk. Hard. Followed by five more rhythmic kicks, likely in an effort to focus his rage somewhere other than at his team's sputtering offense, which has only scored as many as four runs twice during the losing stretch.
"Hitting's contagious. We just haven't had the bug this year," said Valentine. "We just haven't been a good offense all year. ... We got three guys on, they got three double plays. Two 3-2 counts, runners running, they still turn double plays. We get a little something going, first and third, no outs [in the ninth] -- don't tack on. We're just not hitting the ball like we should."
The Giants actually turned a season-high four double plays, and the Mets managed only five hits off starter Kirk Rueter (11-7), who seemed headed for his team's third complete-game shutout in a row before manager Dusty Baker inserted Robb Nen in the ninth.
After Timo Perez doubled off the Giants' beleagured closer and Roberto Alomar singled, New York scored its lone run on a wild pitch. But Tony Tarasco struck out, Mike Piazza popped out and Mo Vaughn grounded to first to end the game.
Rueter's gem followed Jason Schmidt's whitewashing the previous night, but neither Valentine nor Piazza would excuse the Mets' hitting woes because of the opposing pitchers' dominance.
"Those guys are good pitchers," said Valentine. "[We] should be better hitters."
Mike Piazza
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Said Piazza: "They threw the ball well. ... That's just the way it is in this league. When you're struggling, no one's feeling sorry for you. You can't feel sorry for yourselves. Other teams out there know. They're going to go out there and basically rub salt in the wound, and that's the way it is.
"You just have to deal with it, and it's frustrating, but what are you going to do? You just have to try to pick yourself up and keep going."
Like Leiter, Thomson (7-11) became the hard-luck loser despite pitching the finest game in his brief three-start Mets career and one of his better outings all season.
He credited a change in his mechanics, in which he used his legs more, with helping control his fastball. Thomson walked none in his 7 1/3 innings, allowing four hits and three runs (two earned).
"Our pitching, obviously, this series has been solid," said Piazza. "It is frustrating, the fact that these guys are pitching very tough. It's frustrating when you can't get them any run support."
But like Leiter the night before, Thomson said he didn't let the lack of offense affect him.
"You can't let that bother you," he said. "You just gotta go out and try to do the same thing you do every time you go out. You gotta go out and get 27 outs. That's the bottom line. It doesn't matter if we score 10 runs or one run."
Still, when Thomson joined the team in a trade with the Rockies on July 31, the Mets were in the thick of the Wild Card hunt. Since then, they've plummeted to 12 1/2 games back and skidded from second to last in the NL East in a matter of five games during the 10-game losing streak.
"When I first came over here, we were like four, 4 1/2 games out of the Wild Card," said Thomson. "I don't think I ever was in that type of situation in Colorado, but coming over here, I thought we'd get out and have fun, play the game and make a run at this thing. Teams go through bad stretches, and we kind of picked the wrong time to go through this one."
The team record for consecutive losses is 17, set in the inaugural 1962 season. The Mets have experienced four 11-game losing streaks in their history, the most recent one occurring Aug. 9-21, 1991.
In order to avoid tying that ignominious mark of 11, they'll have to hope for an offensive revival in a battle of two rookies Thursday, with New York's Mike Bacsik facing San Francisco's Ryan Jensen. But Baker isn't about to bank on the continued funk of the opposition.
"We've still got one more game to play them, so we're not going to do anything or say anything, just go out and play," said the Giants' skipper. "You certainly don't want to wake them up. They have a good ballclub, they're just not playing well. Every team goes through that period at some time during the year, and right now they just happen to be in a funk."
Chris Shuttlesworth is an editorial producer for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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