Braves Keep Mets Sliding

The 1951 Dodgers. The '64 Phillies. The '78 Red Sox.

Unless they turn things around almost instantly, the New York Mets' amazin' collapse will join the ranks of baseball's biggest.

"I can't believe it's going that bad. ... I don't believe it's happened," Mets manager Bobby Valentine said Tuesday night after his team's seventh straight loss, 9-3 to the Atlanta Braves.

"Don't watch TV. Don't read the paper. Don't listen to the radio," said Al Leiter, who starts Wednesday against Greg Maddux. "You know it's going to be bad. Why reinforce the negative?"

New York, which led either the NL East or the wild-card race from July 21 until Sunday, is 1 1/2 games behind Houston, the current wild-card leader, with just five games remaining. Cincinnati overtook the Astros for the NL Central lead with a 4-1 win.

While the Mets had a four-game wild-card lead on Sept. 19 with 12 games to play, they now must go at least 2-3 and that assumes Houston goes 0-4 to have any chance of reaching the postseason for the first time in 11 years.

"We're building a lot of character right now," Hershiser said. "Let's hope it's character we can use in the playoffs."

Last year, the Mets finished the season with five straight losses, including three straight at Atlanta on the final weekend, when just one win would have left them in a wild-card playoff. This time, they entered the final week following an 0-6 oad trip to Atlanta and Philadelphia.

"You think that if you win one game, you have a chance to string a few together," general manager Steve Phillips said. "Tomorrow will be another day."

While they were greeted with big cheers from a crowd of 43,888, boos quickly followed. Hershiser (13-12) left trailing 3-0 after just 24 pitches, and rookie Octavio Dotel's first pitch skipped past catcher Mike Piazza as another run scored.

Tom Glavine (13-11) made sure New York didn't catch up, allowing just one run and six hits in seven innings.

The Mets were 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position, making them 6-for-53 (.113) during the skid. New York got nine hits overall and is batting .209 (49-for-234) during the last seven games.

Players keep replaying the losses in their minds when they leave the ballpark.

"You try not to," John Olerud said, "but you think about the opportunities you had, whether you chased a bad pitch or you took a pitch you shouldn't have taken."

The frustration in the clubhouse is overwhelming.

"It's really taken over right now," Piazza said. "I've run out of things to say. You just have to go out there, bust your butt and hope you get some breaks."

Atlanta, which started New York's collapse when it swept a three-game series at Turner Field last week, won its eighth straight and at 100-57 became the first major league team this year to reach 100 wins.

Following records of 106-56 last year and 101-61 in 1997, the Braves are first NL to reach 100 wins in three straight years since the St. Louis Cardinals from 1942-44. The last AL team to achieve the feat was the Baltimore Orioles from 1969-71.

"It's something to be proud with everything we've been through this year," Glavine said. "We've done a great job of persevering."

Hershiser hit Gerald Williams in the left elbow opening the game, Bret Boone singled and Chipper Jones singled for a 1-0 lead. During last week's sweep of the Mets, Jones was 4-for-9 with four homers and seven RBIs.

Ryan Klesko followed with another RBI single and Brian Jordan hit a sacrifice fl to left, with Jones easily beating Rickey Henderson's weak throw. Singles by Andruw Jones and Greg Myers loaded the bases, and Hershiser who was not hit hard was yanked after his first pitch to Jose Hernandez.

Jordan's 23rd homer made it 5-0 in the third. Piazza had RBI groundouts off Glavine in the sixth and off Mike Remlinger in the eighth. Andruw Jones hit an RBI triple off Pat Mahomes in a four-run ninth and Walt Weiss hit a two-run triple.

Atlanta, 8-2 against the Mets this year, can't figure out what went wrong for New York.

"You press to the degree that you start trying too much," Glavine said. "You have to do the things you've done all year."

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