MAY 20, 2004
Error of Mets' ways
Add 3 to NL-worst total as Cards flip out
By ROGER RUBIN
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Todd Zeile's first-inning drive flew over the left-field fence for a two-run homer and the Mets were once again riding the wave of confidence that had carried them into this home stand.
It was a feel-good moment for Zeile, who had needed eight stitches the night before to close two gashes in his right ear, the result of getting spiked trying to break up a double play. By the end of the afternoon, nothing would feel good for anyone on the Mets.
Poor pitching, wasted opportunities and another dose of dismal glove work from the NL's worst-fielding club allowed that moment to dissolve into an 11-4 debacle of a loss to the Cardinals yesterday before 21,874 at Shea.
When it was over, Zeile would call his dinger "the cherry on the top of a pile of manure."
A game in which the Mets had taken a 3-2 lead into the sixth inning had already started to unravel when, in the ninth, they assembled as bad an inning as anyone could imagine. The Mets let a 5-3 deficit balloon to 11-3 in this fiasco of a frame that included errors by Mike Piazza at first, Kaz Matsui at shortstop and Zeile at third. Mets pitchers also allowed five hits in the inning, including a double that nearly hit center fielder Mike Cameron when he lost it in the sun.
It was the third time this season the Mets have committed three errors in a game and it brought their league-leading total to 35 after 41 games.
"That inning made this whole game that much more difficult and frustrating," Cameron said. "It was a bad inning of baseball and we'd already had some crazy plays before it happened."
Jae Seo (2-4) came out of the fifth with his 3-2 lead intact, thanks to Karim Garcia, who scaled the right-field wall and reached up to pull back a potential two-run homer by Scott Rolen, who would hit a two-run shot in the ninth. Seo's good start came apart in the sixth when Jim Edmonds and Reggie Sanders started it with back-to-back hits. Reliever Orber Moreno came in and allowed an infield hit off his leg to So Taguchi that tied the game and moved Sanders to third. Zeile couldn't field Mike Matheny's grounder cleanly enough to throw Sanders out at home on the next play and ended up only getting an out at first.
The Mets' lead was gone for good. And a bullpen that had allowed 26 of 59 inherited runners to score was on its way to an afternoon in which it allowed seven runs in four innings.
The problems at the plate that plagued the Mets in Wednesday's 1-0 loss were there again yesterday, too. They stranded five runners in scoring position over the first five innings. No inning was more painful than the fourth, which they entered in a 2-2 tie.
The Mets loaded the bases with none out and pushed the go-ahead run across when Seo was hit by a pitch for his first big-league RBI. The top of the order - Matsui, Zeile and Cliff Floyd - couldn't get another run home against Jason Marquis.
"A win here might have put our confidence through the roof," Floyd said. "The best thing might have been it ending up like it did. You just throw a game like this out. You don't want to think about it."
Those who saw it won't forget the butcher-shop ninth that greeted David Weathers' first appearance in seven days.
"We really turned a game that was very close into something very ugly," Weathers said.
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May 20, 2004
METS.com
The Mets got on the board first when Todd Zeile cracked a two-run homer off the former Brave. Tony Womack had spiked Zeile in the right ear Wednesday night, requiring eight stitches. As a result, manager Art Howe waited until just before game time to put the veteran utility man in the lineup. Howe said he wanted Zeile in there because he was 7-for-14 against Marquis with a homer, and the move paid off.
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MAY 20, 2004
Mets.com
The Mets suffered two more injuries during Wednesday's loss though neither was considered serious. Zeile had to leave the game in the seventh after cutting his right ear on Tony Womack's cleat while attempting to break up a double play. He had a towel over the side of his head and was bleeding when he left the field but appeared no worse for wear after receiving eight stitches and should be available Thursday.
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May 2, 2004
METS.COM
The most intriguing option for second base may actually be Ty Wigginton, who has had an ulcer and is scheduled to come off the disabled list Thursday. Although Wigginton is the starting third baseman, he played second in the minor leagues. Howe said he had not considered moving Wigginton back across the infield, but he feels comfortable enough with Todd Zeile at third to give him that option with Wigginton.
