With the arch-rival Braves arriving in Flushing tonight, the Mets had a chance to go into this season-deciding two-week crucible on a five-game winning streak, playing their best baseball of the year. That is, until Kevin Appier blew that chance with poor pitching and poorer fielding.
He’d pitched brilliantly for the past month, and the Mets had played smart baseball in winning a season-high four in a row. Both streaks ended last night as the Expos strafed Appier and the Mets 10-3 in front of 32,668 soggy fans who’d come to Shea fearing a rainout and left wishing they’d gotten one.
Appier (4-7) gave up eight runs – seven earned – in five rough innings. The sight of him standing with his hands clasped behind his head and a look of disgust after his sixth-inning error told half the story. His frank assessment of his performance told the other half.
“I stunk,” Appier said of his mental meltdowns and fielding follies. “It was an ugly game, and I’m a huge contributor in that. I’m very mad at myself. Hopefully, we got all the bad out of our system, and [tonight] we can get back on track.”
The train derailed in the sixth inning. Trailing just 4-3 and with the game up for grabs, Appier coughed it up with a four-run implosion.
It started with him failing to cover first on a grounder by Lee Stevens (3-for-5, two runs) that he thought was headed foul. He verbally chastised himself and seemed to lose concentration, walking shortstop Orlando Cabrera (2-for-4, two runs) and committing an error on a rushed throw to third that nearly got by Robin Ventura.
That loaded the bases, and his night ended by walking LF Geoff Blum on four pitches. As the boos came down from the stands, pitching coach Charlie Hough came out of the dugout to give Appier the hook. It wasn’t soon enough.
“After the lapse [at first], it seemed like he lost concentration a little bit,” said Mike Piazza. “It definitely wasn’t a good game for us, not on anybody’s part. It’s frustrating any time the other team beats you, but when you make the mistakes we made, it hurts more.”
Dicky Gonzalez relieved and allowed the rest of Appier’s baserunners to score, pushing the lead to 8-3. Montreal added two in the seventh to seal their win. Now the Mets (33-40) are 9 ½ games behind the Phillies in the NL East, and seven behind the Giants in the wild-card race.
It’s not the way they hoped to go into this Braves series, which starts a 16-game gauntlet that many feel could decide if management makes major changes.
“You’d like to make a good run to show people upstairs in the front office don’t disband the team,” OF Darryl Hamilton said. “[Do it] so they don’t try to get rid of the team, but add to it, and try to do something better.”
Starting with Atlanta tonight, they’ll have home-and-home series with the Braves and NL Central-leading Chicago, before facing the Yankees to end the first half. And after the break, they’ll face AL East-leading Boston and Toronto, before home-and-home series with Florida and the Phillies.
“You know you’re going to keep hearing that the team is going to be dismantled: That’s to be expected on a team that has high expectations,” Todd Zeile said. “There’s always been enough talent in this room that the big picture was the more poignant picture.”
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IT’S NOW OR NEVER
The next 19 games will go a long way toward determining whether the 33-40 Mets will be involved in the NL East pennant race. (chart of schedule)