Starting Lineup

1. Jordany Valdespin – RF
2. Daniel Murphy – 2B
3. David Wright – 3B
4. Ike Davis – 1B
5. Lucas Duda – LF
6. John Buck – C
7. Rick Ankiel – CF
8. Ruben Tejada – SS
9. Jonathon Niese – LHP

Game Notes

The Mets (14-23) now have a season-high six-game losing streak for the second time in 2013. They have lost 14 of 18 to drop nine games under .500 this early in a season for the first time since May 13, 2001, under Bobby Valentine (also 14-23).

Terry Collins is frustrated, but remains hopeful. “It’s no secret. I mean, I don’t have a lot to say. We beat this horse to death here all week. Outside of a few innings, we’ve been in every game in the last week. We just can’t finish them. We cannot get a big hit. We cannot get a big out. We cannot make a big play when we need to. It’s a combination of things that has just happened. And that’s what happens when you’re going bad. And we’re going bad. And we’re going to get out of it.”

Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy has eight hits in his last 13 at-bats, quickly putting behind him a dreadful 0-for-17 slump. ”It’s tough to explain,” Murphy said. “Once you start feeling good and then you have some success for it, it just lends to more peace and less anxiety.” Murphy is hitting .280 on the year, with two homers and 16 RBIs. He is batting .358 on the road this season, the fourth- best mark in the National League.

Game Preview

The Mets and Cardinals play the final game of the series this afternoon where the Mets try to avoid losing 7 games in a row, a 4 game sweep and try to break out of this terrible offense funk. Last night Marcum wasn’t bad. He allowed 3 runs, 2 earned over 6.2 innings but the only run support the Mets had came from a 2 run homer by Ankiel. Besides that the Mets were completely flat again. Niese will try to play stopper as he goes up against Wainwright.

Jon Niese is 2-4 over 8 games this season with a 5.93 ERA over 41.0 innings of work. His last two starts have been some of the worse in his career as he allowed 7 ER over 4.1 innings and followed that by 4.0 innings 8 ER in his last outing. Last year he had one start against the Cardinals and it was quite good as he pitched 6.0 innings of shutout ball striking out 10 batters. The Cards have the following numbers against Jon:

Wigginton 4-10, 2 2B
Holliday 2-10
Molina 2-8
Jon Jay 3-7, 2B
Freese 0-6
Beltran 1-3

The Mets will finish off this series against one of the figures of lore in Mets nemesis history: Adam Wainwright. Wainwright is 5-2 this season over 8 games with a 2.30 ERA while pitching 58.2 innings and a Major League leading 2 complete game shutouts, including his last outing. That last stunning performance was the follow up to a weak 5.1 innings, 5 ER outing. Last season he was not effective against the Mets going 0-2 in as many games allowing 12 ER over 11.1 innings the Mets have the following numbers against Adam:

Wright 1-9, 2B
Byrd 3-11, 2B
Buck 1-8, HR
Davis 2-7, HR
Baxter 2-6
Duda 2-4, 2B, HR
Murphy 3-6, 3B

Let’s Go Mets!

Lately, it seems the only thing the Mets excel at is finding ways to lose.

Shaun Marcum had his first quality start as a Met, going 6.2 innings allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits while walking one and punching out three. He threw 96 pitches, 65 of which for strikes, however fell to 0-4 on the year in easily his best effort for the Amazin’s this season.

After matching goose eggs with the Cardinal’s young phenom Shelby MIller, things got rocky in the bottom of the fourth. With Matt Holliday on first and two out, Jon Jay roped a double to Mike Baxter in right that went to the wall. Seeing that he didn’t have a play on Holliday, who came around to score, Daniel Murphy threw to third and pinned Jay in a run down. Apparently giving up, Jay stood almost still in front of Wright for a routine play to tag him. Wright went to lay the tag on, but dropped the ball. As it skidded into the infield, Jay was able to safely make it to third base, costing Wright just his third error on the year. Tony Cruz would follow up with a knock to make it a 2-0 ballgame.

Looking overmatched at the plate, the offense was completely anemic against Miller who did not have his best stuff today. He held the Mets off the board through 5.2 frames before being relieved by Randy Choate for the last out of the sixth. In the seventh against Seth Maness, John Buck got himself on base with a one out single, setting the table Rick Ankiel. On the seventh pitch of the at bat with a full count, Ankiel took a 90mph sinker deep to center to tie up the ballgame at two. Maybe the Mets luck is finally starting to turn around right?

Wrong. In the bottom half of the frame, Marcum got the first two outs but got himself into trouble with runners on first and third. After which he was lifted for this year’s go-to lefty, Scott Rice. Rice came on to face the former-Met Ty Wigginton, and on the first-pitch of the at-bat, threw a breaking ball that careened off John Buck and to the backstop, scoring the lead run in Daniel Descalso.

After the end of the seventh, the life was sucked out of the Mets. Carlos Beltran walked to lead off the eighth. Matt Holliday grounded into what would be a routine double-play, but the throw from Murphy sailed into the home dugout, allowing him to go to second. Allen Craig would also be walked to create a nice opportunity for Yadier Molina, who came through with a base hit to drive in the insurance run and make it 4-2.

After the wild pitch from Rice, the offense showed little fight as they went down 1-2-3 in both the eighth and ninth to end the game.

John Buck had a nice day at the plate, but a horrible one on the basepaths as he was doubled off on a Ruben Tejada liner that was caught, then made a boneheaded steal attempt, resulting in the slow-footed backstop being picked off at second. That plus the key wild pitch, and it was overall a night to forget for Buck.

The offense continues to be ice cold. Ike Davis and Lucas Duda both had 0-fers in this game.

The Mets just aren’t playing good baseball, it is as simple as that. They are giving opposing teams extra outs with sloppy D and giving away at-bats with an inept lineup.

Two positives to take away from this one however was the encouraging start from Marcum, and the solid offensive effort by Rick Ankiel.

The Mets have now lost six-games in a row for the second time this season and are 8-18 in their last 26 games. They now have the third worst record in baseball at 14-23, nine games under .500. Only Houston and Miami are worse.

Jonathon Niese (2-4, 5.93 ERA) opposes right-hander Adam Wainwright (5-2, 2.30) in the series finale on Thursday at 1:45 PM. The Mets look to avoid a four-game sweep at the hands of the Cardinals which last happened in 1982 when Keith Hernandez played for St. Louis.

The newest Met, Rick Ankiel, couldn’t hold onto Ty Wigginton’s sinking line drive for a double. Wigginton then scored from second on an infield hit off pitcher Scott Rice. Matt Holliday followed with a two-run homer, and just like that it was over and the Mets had their fourth straight loss, 6-3, at St. Louis to fall seven games below .500.

ON THE MOUND: Jeremy Hefner had his third straight quality start, giving up three runs in six innings. Hefner retired the last ten hitters he faced. Even so, the Mets are now 0-7 when he starts. … Rice and Scott Atchison combined to give up three runs on five hits.

AT THE PLATE: The Mets had four hits, three from Daniel Murphy. … Ten more strikeouts by Mets hitters, surprisingly, none by Ike Davis or Lucas Duda.

METS MATTERS: Reliever Frank Francisco has a mild strain of the flexor pronator in his right elbow. He will be shut down for 72 hours before he resumes throwing. … Outfielder Andrew Brown was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas to make room for Ankiel.

THEY SAID IT:  “We aren’t scoring. I told him he got us to where we needed to be.’’ – Manager Terry Collins on Hefner’s performance.

BY THE NUMBERS: 12: Number of times in their last 16 games the Mets scored three runs or less.

ON DECK: Dillon Gee (2-4), Shaun Marcum (0-3) and Jonathan Niese (2-4) will be the Mets’ next three starters in this series against John Gast (0-0), Shelby Miller (5-2) and Adam Wainwright (5-2) for the Cardinals.

The first game in that slide, April 18 at Colorado, and the one preceding it, April 12, at Minnesota, were played in temperatures in the high 20s.

I spoke personally to manager Terry Collins about that and he said the cold might have had a residual effect on Niese.

“I think there might be. He’s had some stiffness in his back,’’ Collins said when asked if there is a connection between working in the cold and his following ineffectiveness. “He’s had trouble getting loose and (prior to his May 5 start at Atlanta) he didn’t have a good bullpen session.’’

The only thing surprising about this issue with Niese is the injury wasn’t worse and there haven’t been more weather-related injuries. This has always been one of my pet peeves about playing in lousy weather. The owners have such steep investments in their players, and yet they have no qualms about playing games in precarious conditions. This is also an issue the Major League Baseball Players Association has glossed over. Playing conditions have never been high on the MLBPA’s pecking order in negotiating with the owners.

It’s usually about money and drug testing, but working conditions somehow get ignored.

Niese, who gave up eight runs in 4.1 innings in his start Saturday against the Pirates, said to compensate for the soreness and stiffness he developed the bad habit of dropping his arm angle during his release. Consequently, hitters have been able to pick up the ball out of his hand earlier.

“I think it’s to the point now where I created a bad habit with dropping down my arm angle, and I’m kind of opening everything up,’’ Niese said, adding he wasn’t bothered by pain today. “It’s something I’m going to work on in the bullpen to get it back.’’

Niese said there’s no deception in his delivery and hitters aren’t chasing the pitchers they normally might. They are able to pick up his release point earlier, and that split second makes a tremendous difference to the hitters.

Niese is hopeful of working his release point issue out in the bullpen this week before making Thursday’s start in St. Louis against Adam Wainwright.

His 5.93 ERA clearly shows that Niese is currently not the same pitcher who the Mets signed to a five-year deal before the start of last season. If things are going to get any better for the Mets, they’ll need the Jon Niese they thought they were getting.

Matt Harvey was named the Pitcher of the Month for April, the first Met to win the honor since R.A. Dickey last did so in June, 2012.

Harvey, 24, went 4-0 with a 1.56 ERA and 46 strikeouts in six April starts. His four wins tied for the National League lead, while his 1.56 ERA is third in the league for the month. His 46 strikeouts are tied for fourth in the league.

Harvey became the first pitcher in since 1900 to win his first four starts of the season, while allowing no more than 10 hits combined in those four starts.

This the second honor for Harvey this season as he was named National League Player of the Week during April 8-14. That was the week when he flirted with a no-hitter through 6.2 innings against the Twins in a frigid Minnesota.

Harvey now stands at 7-5 with a 2.26 ERA in 16 career starts, having given up only 63 hits in 99 2/3 innings.

It’s the first career monthly award for Harvey, who was selected ahead of pitchers such as Pittsburgh’s Jason Grilli, who logged 10 saves and a 0.82 ERA; San Francisco’s Madison Bumgarner, who posted a 3-0 mark and 1.55 ERA; and Adam Wainwright, who went 4-2 with a 2.03 ERA.

In what has been a month full of questions, concerns and a losing record to start the season, seeing Harvey win this award is certainly one of the bright spots.

Congrats Matt, may you win many more. Hey, if he keeps this up he may even win a Cy Young.