Mets fall to Rockies for fifth straight loss

NEW YORK -- More than six hours of baseball Thursday offered no reprieve. The Mets are losing now, losing often, losing in a formulaic way. The latest example was an 9-4 defeat to the Rockies in the second game of a doubleheader, after the Mets dropped the first game, 6-5.

Troy Tulowitzki again provided the most explosive offense, homering for the fourth consecutive game in a four-game series sweep. But Jonathan Herrera also offered fireworks with his three-run blast off Taylor Buchholz in the sixth. And Dexter Fowler drove in two runs. And Carlos Gonzalez plated another. And the Mets were left wondering just exactly what happened after their fifth straight loss.

"Depressing," was how manager Terry Collins described the day. "We're better than this."

They have lost eight of nine now, falling to dead last in the division below the Phillies, Braves, Marlins and Nationals. "We haven't been able to stop anybody," Collins said, in a speech that was not entirely hyperbole.

Tulowitzki, for example, went 10-for-16 with four home runs in the series, prompting catcher Josh Thole to remark, "It was like watching Bonds in his prime."

Making legends out of shortstops was not what the Mets had in mind for 2011. Especially not after a cleansing winter. Especially not after a positive spring. Especially not after a 3-1 start to the season.

"We showed too much promise in Spring Training," Collins said. "Certainly this is a downer, no question -- I'm not going to sugarcoat this. This is not a good homestand. This is not the way we wanted to come out of the gate. This is not what we wanted to show our fans. We're a better team than this, and we'll fix it."

The final two games of their homestand followed a familiar script. In both instances, the Mets took an early lead, only to hand it right back to the Rockies. It was Scott Hairston who first sparked the Mets in Game 2, doubling high off the left-field wall against Rockies starter Jorge De La Rosa in the second inning. Though a video review confirmed the umpires' initial ruling of a double and not a home run, Mike Nickeas later drove home both Hairston and Willie Harris.

But Chris Capuano could not hold the lead, giving up two runs in the third inning and another three in the sixth, before departing with two Rockies on base. The first man out of the bullpen, Buchholz, then served up a three-run homer to Herrera, spoiling Capuano's line and shoving the Mets to the brink of yet another loss.

The defeats are grating on them. How could they not? After Wednesday's game, Collins called a brief team meeting -- not to encourage the Mets nor to chastise them, but instead to offer a combination of both. He could not be too mad, because the Mets have shown resolve in many of their losses. But he could not be too optimistic, either, because the Mets have found themselves wholly unable to win.

So Collins implored his team to improve.

"What Terry said last night, he was right," closer Francisco Rodriguez said after Thursday's losses. "We are one play, one pitch, one swing away from being with a better record than we're at. Unfortunately, the numbers show the opposite. We have to step up and play better. That's the bottom line."

The Mets are 13 games into the season now, with many things actually going right. Jose Reyes has hit safely in 12 consecutive games, clubbing his first home run in Game 1 Thursday and swiping his fourth base. Carlos Beltran has been productive on offense in the games he has played. David Wright and Ike Davis are both hitting with consistency and power.

But the Mets are making physical errors and mental errors and paying a steep price for most of them. Among those guilty of misplays Thursday were Hairston, Angel Pagan, Daniel Murphy and Brad Emaus, whose botched double-play attempt in the sixth inning of Game 2 acted as kerosene for Colorado's six-run rally.

"When they didn't turn the double play in the past, we might've just nicked the club," Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. "But we took full advantage of it and continued to take advantage."

Afterward, the Mets donned jackets and slacks, some of the older players tying neckties for the younger ones. They flew off to Atlanta feeling poorly about themselves.

Collins planned to sit on the charter flight and brood. This is not what he envisioned when he dreamed of this season.

"I live and die with the game," Collins said. "I'm not somebody who can, at the end of the day, fold up the notebook and leave it here. That's not me. That's never been me. That's probably why I have this 'intense' tag that follows me around. I care about the game. I care about how it's played."

In Flushing, it is being played less than optimally, and that's troubling. The Mets entered this season needing everything to break right in order to achieve their goals.

So far, everything has broken wrong.

"There's no one spot," Reyes said. "We have very good talent on the field. We need to turn it around, one way or another."

Like most of his teammates, Reyes could not point to specific solutions -- only to some ambiguous hope for the future.

"Things, they've got to get better," Pagan said. "We just have to keep pushing."