Reeling Mets stumble into five double plays in loss to Nationals

[1969pontiac]

WASHINGTON - The Mets headed back in the wrong direction last night. Quite literally. Quite embarrassingly, too.

Luis Castillo ran past Emil Brown on the basepaths for an automatic out, John Maine surrendered three homers for the first time in his career while acknowledging tightness in the back of his surgically repaired shoulder, and the Mets matched a club record with five double plays while losing to the lowly Nationals, 7-1.

The Mets (29-25) hit into three double plays and ran into a fourth in the opening four innings. The final one belongs on a blooper reel.

After Castillo worked a leadoff walk, Emil Brown sent a drive to right field. First base ump Derryl Cousins ruled Elijah Dukes trapped the ball, but Castillo believed - perhaps correctly - it was caught. With Brown, who had rounded first base, furiously shooing him away, Castillo nonetheless passed Brown and headed back to first. As ump D.J. Reyburn pointed to Brown to call him out (rule-wise, Brown ran past Castillo), Castillo finally changed direction and headed for second on what became a 9-3-6 double play. "There was really nothing he could do because there wasn't any clarity on the play," Jerry Manuel said. "The ump that called it was behind him."

Castillo said he asked Dukes about the play after the half-inning, and Dukes said he had caught the ball. "In that situation, you can't wait," Castillo said. "You see the ball and go right away."

The Mets already had hit into three double plays, on grounders by Brown, who was designated for assignment after the game, as well as Fernando Tatis and Wilson Valdez.

The ugly display, which dropped the Mets to 1-4 on a trip to Pittsburgh and Washington, included Maine getting knocked out without recording an out in the fifth. Back on the mound after battling a stomach ailment all week, Maine walked opposing pitcher John Lannan and Cristian Guzman to open the fifth, then served up a three-run homer to Nick Johnson on his final pitch. Washington had a 7-0 lead when Manuel handed the ball to Ken Takahashi. "I had nothing. It was awful. It was a waste of a day," said Maine, adding: "I didn't have my legs under me."

Manuel said it would be easy to blame Maine's troubles on the stomach ailment. But the manager noted that the mid-90s velocity that Maine had at this point last year hasn't been there this season - even though the righthander had been turning in quality outings before last night. Despite Sept. 30 surgery to remove a bony growth from his right shoulder socket, Maine said "it's still tight back there."

The belief is scar tissue has formed while Maine has healed from the surgery, which eventually breaks up. Asked if tightness means a further medical issue exists there, Maine said: "I hope not."

The seven runs allowed by Maine (5-4) were one shy of his career high. Maine also surrendered a two-run homer to Adam Dunn in the first and a solo homer to Dukes in the fourth.

It became readily apparent at the outset that Maine wasn't fooling the Nats (15-39), who won for the fifth time in 26games. Guzman rocketed a liner directly at Tatis at first base on Maine's first pitch. Maine surrendered hits to the next four batters.

The Mets didn't seem like they would get enough runners on base against Lannan (3-5) after Castillo ran past Brown in the fourth to threaten the franchise's double-play record. Lannan retired the next 11Mets, until David Wright got the team's second hit with one out in the eighth. Tatis followed with a single, and Wright scored an unearned run when Dukes dropped Omir Santos' line drive for an error. Valdez followed by hitting into his second double play and the team's fifth of the game, matching the club record, which has been done seven times, most recently in Milwaukee on Aug. 6, 2002.

The Long Beach, L.I., native Lannan tossed his first career complete game, requiring 96 pitches during the two-hour affair.