Last Place Mets Coming Soon

By Rich Mancuso/ Sports Editor

Last place is on the horizon, a half game separates the Mets and Marlins from the bottom of the pile in the NL East. And with 31 wins, the Mets have the fewest in the league and the third worst record. Friday night three games begin down in Miami and they can own the distinction of being last.

And who would have envisioned this after that 11-1 start? But this is what confronts the Mets and their fans after a 6-4 loss to the struggling Pirates Monday night at Citi Field. The losing streak is at seven, 4-19 in their last 23 games, and 6-24 in their last 30.

The record is  31-45, and 14 games under .500. And if there is any room for optimism as to how to turn this around it will come soon as the Mets will be sellers before the non-waiver trade deadline in five weeks.

There are no immediate answers. The Mets will continue to take the field. They will try and win another ballgame at Citi Field, 1-14 in their last 15 games at Citi Field. They will try and get to the bottom of this but you get the feeling there is no doctor in the house, no doctor in New York that can fix this mess.

And it is a mess. Probably will continue with a win here and there as the rebuilding will be a long process. Who goes and who stays on this roster will be determined in the weeks to come and rest assured that there will be more losing than winning for the New York Mets.

The manager, Mickey Callaway, he has no answers. There answers in his post game media sessions are brief and there is that sense of frustration, a different way of handling expressions the way Terry Collins did at the same podium the past few years.

All he said Monday night was, “We haven’t been winning ball games.” Bur this time the manager had no reference of his team going out there every night with that winning attitude. The post game meetings are quick and when asked about his team having the least amount of wins, Callaway made reference to that need of winning ball games.

But the lineup he had on the field Monday night left a lot to be desired and no presence of Amed Rosario who sat on the bench the second straight game. Rosario came off the bench and was one of three strikeout victims of Pirates closer Felipe Vazquez.

There were two errors in the first three innings. The rookie third baseman Luis Guillorme set up to unearned runs that disrupted starter Seth Lugo. The Mets fell behind again and early, had some fight with a Wilmer Flores three-run homer off the bench in the seventh inning.

But that familiar theme of fighting back in April once again led to another loss in late June.And there are no answers, with some expected to come soon with changes at the top, and possibly that Master GM Sandy Alderson taking a fall and having nothing to do with the future and direction of this franchise.

Those season expectations are over and if any astute person, and not necessarily those in baseball, believe there will be this remarkable turnaround, think twice.  The season is over and games are meaningless.

Last place is very possible when the play is done Tuesday night and if the rebuilding does not begin soon after, the baseball world will be shocked.

There is some room for optimism, and it hasn’t been addressed as of yet. And the Mets hierarchy will try and figure how to do this properly with their GM.  The misery will be over and should be expected soon for Sandy Alderson who will get credit for building a NL pennant team three years ago, and that seems so long ago.

And you can continue to root-root-root for this home team. And there will be a Tim Tebow sighting at Citi Field and perhaps sooner than expected.

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