Braves 6
Mets 3
ATLANTA – If these Mets really want to be ambitious, the 1962 club started 0-9. Here’s to the dream.
There is only one winless team in baseball, folks, and the $100 million-plus Mets are it. They’re 0-5 after last night’s 6-3 loss to the Braves and appear prepared to challenge their franchise mark for initial futility.
Only three other Met teams had ever started 0-4, and the last one to do it was the 1964 outfit, which began 0-4. So this year’s crop has now passed them. Next up is the 1963 group, which began 0-8. And then of course, the ’62 version.
Fall again today and the Mets will not only continue on their losing path but ensure humiliation tomorrow at coming home to Shea at 0-6. They’d also ensure that they’d have to buck history if they want to make the playoffs.
Consider that in the 36 years since baseball began divisional play in 1969, only two clubs have ever started the season 0-6 and made the playoffs – the 1974 Pirates and the 1995 Reds, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
At least today the Mets have Pedro Martinez going. Then again, the Braves will counter with John Smoltz. By the way, five games into the season, the Mets are already four games behind Atlanta.
Last night’s problems were simple enough – Aaron Heilman pitched and the Mets didn’t hit.
Heilman, taking the mound instead of the injured Kris Benson, put the Mets in a quick four-run hole, surrendered five runs in five innings and now owns a career major-league ERA of 6.50 in 20 games.
Heilman actually became the first Met starter this year to not allow at least two runs in the opening frame. But really, he was just an inning late.
Heilman began the second by allowing Johnny Estrada’s single to right and Adam LaRoche’s double to right to put runners at second and third. Raul Mondesi then hit a tough grounder that ate up David Wright, a play that should have been scored an error but was oddly scored a hit, loading the bases for Brian Jordan.
Jordan then slammed Heilman’s 1-0 pitch over the center-field wall for a grand slam and a 4-0 Braves lead. The Mets never recovered and have now not led in 36 innings.
Offensively, the Mets managed just three runs (Jose Reyes’ solo homer to left, Cliff Floyd’s RBI single to right and Kazuo Matsui’s RBI groundout) and have scored five runs in their last three games. They went 2-for-17 with men on base and 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
Meanwhile, the team continues to not panic. Before yesterday’s game, GM Omar Minaya made it clear that he doesn’t like to lose but talked about the longevity of the season.
“You always want to win. When you’re a competitive person, you want to win. But baseball’s a long season. It’s a 162-game season,” he told The Post in a phone conversation.
“I’d like to see Willie [Randolph] get his first win. We’ve had some close games. My experience, I’ve been around the game long enough, that things happen in April, and in May and June you don’t think about those things.”
Minaya also said his team’s start hasn’t changed his perception of the quality of the team.
“No. Just because you lose four games, you can’t change perception by losing four games. And even if you lose more games,” Minaya said. “We have a lot of new pieces. It takes time sometimes for all of it to come together. We’re not only a team in transition, we’re an organization in transition.”
