Mets end tough road trip with loss
On Sunday the Mets' 11-game West Coast swing came to an end with a 1-0 loss at the hands of the Dodgers after Casey Blake scored from first base on a two-out double by Russell Martin in the bottom of the eighth.
The Mets ended their dismal road trip with a 2-9 record and now face the surging Cardinals in a three-game series beginning Tuesday night, one that could leave them out of the playoof hunt as they currently sit six games out of the wild card hunt behind five other teams .
"It was a tough trip, very tough," manager Jerry Manuel said.
New York has suffered from a lack of offensive production in recent weeks and that situation went from bad to worst on Sunday against Los Angeles starter Clayton Kershaw.
Kershaw (10-5) exited after eight scoreless innings, allowing seven hits, while walking one and striking out three for the Dodgers, who have won four of their last five. Kershaw improved to 2-0 in three career starts against the Mets.
Kenley Jansen came in relief and struck out another pair of batters in his second Major League appearance for his first career save. The 22-year-old, Jansen, has been a breath of fresh air as a closer. Jansen got Carlos Beltran to pop out to start the ninth and then struck out Jason Bay and Ike Davis to end the game.
Beltran, who missed the first 88 games of the season as he recovered from knee surgery, has come out hitting despite not having seen big league pitching. But Beltran was held in check against the Dodgers as were the rest of the Mets hitters.
Both Kershaw and Jansen will have to stay sharp as the Dodgers get set to play its next 10 games against National League West opponents, seven of those against the first-place Padres.
Los Angeles is six games out, but optimistic about their chances in the second half. "We're behind right now in the standings, but we all believe that we know where we're going to finish," Martin said. "That's all that matters."
Both the Dodgers' and Mets' offenses have been struggling and it showed on Sunday. Not much of an offensive battle in this game as teams failed to convert scoring opportunities, especially for the Mets.
David Wright instilled hope that the situation might be different when he doubled with two outs in the first inning, but Carlos Beltran struck out to end the inning, and the next 12 Mets did not reach base.
In the fifth, the Mets strung together back-to-back hits, but it was with two outs and in front of the pitcher's spot in the batting order. R.A. Dickey, who was later pulled from the game in the sixth because of an injury to his left leg, grounded out to cap another scoreless inning.
Jose Reyes led off the sixth with a single, only to be picked off by Kershaw. Luis Castillo made the gaffe more painful when he doubled to right field.
Then, in the seventh, yet another promising situation could not pan out. Ike Davis hit a one-out double, and Kershaw intentionally walked Jeff Francoeur to get to Josh Thole. Thole validated the Dodgers' strategy by grounding into an inning-ending double play.
Kershaw’s counterpart from New York, Dickey, left after 5 2/3 innings with a left leg injury.
He allowed just two hits, did not walk a batter and struck out six. But in the bottom of the sixth, he slipped after a pitch to Martin, prompting a visit from Jerry Manuel and the training staff. Dickey appeared to be fine at first, but it was obvious that the injury was affecting his throwing motion.
Dickey has not been getting much help from his hitters as the Mets have been held to four runs or fewer in 15 of their last 16 contests.
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