If you came to Citi Field on Saturday night to be entertained by Bartolo Colon, you got your money’s worth.
The pitcher was effective as usual and tossed in some trademarked goofy plays, but that didn’t help Yoenis Cespedes from being booed at Citi Field in a 1-0 loss to the lowly Phillies.
Cespedes struck out three times as the Mets fell to 2-2. Philadelphia won for the first time in five tries this season.
Ryan Howard provided the only offense with an opposite-field homer to left-center to start the fifth on a pitch Colon said caught too much of the middle of the plate.
That mistake was enough to cost the Mets the game, as they finished with just three hits and went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.
Perhaps the biggest culprit was Cespedes, who flied out in the first with Curtis Granderson on first, struck out with Cabrera on second and one out in the third and whiffed to end the fifth — again with Cabrera on second.
Asked if he was bothered by the crowd’s reaction, Cespedes, speaking through a translator, said “No.”
Surprised?
“No.”
After his second strikeout, Cespedes began hearing it from the crowd. And the Mets had difficulty getting anything going the rest of the way.
“We have a passionate fan base,” manager Terry Collins said. “One thing I know is they want to win and when you strike out or make a big out, that’s just part of playing here. Nobody feels worse than Yoenis.”
Both Cespedes and Collins believe he is chasing pitches and that once the current cold spell breaks, he will be fine.
Until then, there may be a hole in the middle of the lineup and on Saturday, Colon couldn’t overcome it.
Before Howard’s homer, he had retired 12 of the first 13 batters he faced and allowed just one run over six innings, striking out seven while walking none.
The Mets threatened in the first, but failed to score. Two innings later, Asdrubal Cabrera had a one-out double, but it was wasted when Cespedes went down swinging and Lucas Duda looked at a called third strike with a full count.
Colon, making his first start — but second appearance — of the young season, was sharp early.
Though it was 41 degrees at first pitch, Colon wore no sleeves and delighted the surprisingly large crowd of 37, 083 not only on the mound, but at the plate, as well.
He grounded out to third to end the second and drew cheers for nearly beating the throw. And then he swung hard enough for his helmet to fall off during his fifth-inning at-bat before he eventually fouled out.
Then Colon made a play on defense that only he seems to be able to make.
Freddy Galvis led off the sixth with a soft liner between the mound and second and Colon got off the mound and managed to make an over-the-shoulder catch, losing his hat in the process.
“I tracked down the ball well and I was the only one who had the opportunity to make the catch,” Colon said through a translator.
But no acrobatics could help the Mets lineup, which was anemic against Velasquez, making just the eighth start of his career and struck out nine.
Their luck didn’t change even against Philadelphia’s dreadful bullpen, which entered the game with a 12.66 ERA, having surrendered 15 earned runs in 10 ²/₃ innings.
“We haven’t swung the bats very good yet, so we’re not going to make any excuses about how cold it was,” Collins said. “We’ve got to swing the bats better.”
