NEW YORK -- After sweeping series at Washington and Atlanta, the New York Mets returned to Citi Field on Sept. 14 with an 83-62 record and 9½-game division lead.
Then the Amazin’s lost rubber games to the Miami Marlins and New York Yankees in Queens.
Now, after losing 6-2 on Tuesday night, the Mets have split the first two games of a series against the Atlanta Braves. The Amazin's are 3-5 entering the final day of their homestand. And manager Terry Collins believes his ballclub looks tight.
“Coming into a homestand, we had a chance to make a huge impact with a very substantial lead, where nobody needed to be uptight,” Collins said. “We should have been quite relaxed with the lead we had. We should have been going out and playing the game nice and loosely and calm. For me, it looks like we’re tight. I don’t know why. It’s just the perception it looks like from the bench.”
The Mets, now 85-66, nonetheless have a 6½-game lead over the Washington Nationals for first place in the National League East. The magic number is down to six thanks to the Nats’ loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday. The Mets have 11 games remaining, including the final three of the season against Washington at Citi Field.
Collins is perplexed by why the offense has suddenly gone into a rut. Through eight games of the homestand, the Mets have produced 20 runs -- 2.5 per game.
This will be their first losing homestand of the season.
“We’ve got to play better,” Collins said. “We came off a tremendous road trip, came home. We’ve played great at home all year long. And, all of a sudden, we’ve hit a wall. We aren’t swinging the bats very good. We had, what, 10 more strikeouts tonight? We’ve got to quit trying to hit homers, I think, and let’s hit some line drives. We’ve just got to swing the bats better, because we’re a better offensive team than the way we’ve played this homestand.”
Still, captain David Wright disputed his manager’s assertion that the Mets are tight.
“I don’t think we’re tight,” Wright said. “I think there are just going to be some games where we get outplayed. Tonight was one of them.”
