Do the initials “J.M.” stand for John Maine or Just Mediocre? After another lackluster performance by the Mets right-hander last night, the temptation is to choose the latter.
Though Maine wasn’t the only culprit in the Mets’ 6-2 loss to the Dodgers at Shea Stadium, the fact he was hit hard and again failed to survive at least six innings was difficult to ignore.
It left the Mets to settle for two victories in three games against Los Angeles with a big stretch of NL East action set to begin tonight in Philadelphia. The Mets lead the Phillies by six games and the Braves, whom they’ll face this weekend, by seven.
But that gap might have been wider had Maine risen to the occasion last night on national television and received some help from his lineup and defense.
Maine (13-8) has gone six straight starts without completing six innings, albeit including an outing against the Nationals that was stopped because of rain in the fifth inning. Once considered the ace of this rotation, Maine is 3-4 with a 6.75 ERA since the All-Star break. Maybe “just mediocre” is generous in describing Maine’s recent work.
“I felt great out there, made pitches when I had to and felt I did everything I could to keep us close,” Maine said.
But not close enough. The Dodgers broke the game open with three unearned runs against Maine in the sixth inning, helping make David Wells (6-8) a winner on the stage he loves, the Big Apple.
Wells, in his Dodgers debut, went five innings and allowed two earned runs on seven hits with three walks and two strikeouts.
“Typical David Wells, he kept them in the game,” Willie Randolph said. “I’ve known Boomer a long time, seen him throw a perfect game, when’s he’s hitting his spots he’s very effective.”
As for his own starting pitcher, Randolph was a little less bubbly.
“John pitched OK,” Randolph said. “The bottom line is winning the game and he kept us in it for the most part.”
The trouble in the sixth started when Jeff Conine booted James Loney’s grounder, leading to the three unearned runs in Maine’s final line. The right-hander went 52/3 innings and allowed six runs, three earned, on nine hits with six strikeouts and one walk.
The Dodgers scored twice in the fifth inning to take their first lead, with an unlikely play serving as the catalyst: Wells bunted for a single leading off the inning.
That’s right, Wells dropped a bunt in front of David Wright and hustled his 248-pound frame down the line, beating the third baseman’s throw to first. After a Rafael Furcal single, Matt Kemp delivered an RBI single and Ramon Martinez doubled home another run.
“It was a perfect bunt, nothing you could do about it,” Wright said, referring to Wells’ gem. “It doesn’t matter how fast or slow you are, you’re going to beat that one out.”
Maine had avoided trouble an inning earlier after drilling Jeff Kent in the head with a 91-mph fastball. Kent, dazed by the blow, left the game and Andre Ethier followed with a single before Maine retired the next three hitters, the last two – Loney and Mike Lieberthal – by strikeout.
The Mets jumped to a 2-0 lead in the third inning on Wright’s two-run single. But Wright made a baserunning blunder moments later, breaking from second only to have Wells spin and nail him.
In the first inning, Lastings Milledge was rounding third on Wright’s double when coach Sandy Alomar Sr. flashed a late stop sign. Milledge stopped halfway to the plate and was tagged out in a rundown, squelching a potential rally.
“We just got outplayed,” Wright said. “They had some big hits and we didn’t.”
Dodgers 6 Mets 2
mpuma@nypost.com