Sep 17, 2007, 15:05 GMT
- The National League-East leading New York Mets lost some ground in the standings over the weekend, and now may have lost one of their better pitchers as well. The club will be without Orlando Hernandez when it begins a three-game series with the Washington Nationals tonight at RFK Stadium.
Hernandez was the original starter for tonight's game, but was scratched because of lingering pain in his right foot. There is no timetable for his return, and if the problem extends into the playoffs, it would mark the second straight year Hernandez has missed the postseason for New York.
The Cuban, who is 9-5 with a 3.75 earned run average this year, missed all of the postseason last year after tearing a right calf muscle.
However, for Hernandez to miss the playoffs, the Mets have to get there first and that seems a little less certain than it did before the weekend after they were swept in three games by the second-place Philadelphia Phillies.
New York pitching allowed five runs in the sixth inning in what ended as a 10-6 defeat on Sunday, allowing the Phillies to get within 3 1/2 games of New York in the standings. The Mets, whose magic number to clinch the division remained at 11, have 14 games left this season.
Carlos Beltran hit a three-run homer and David Wright also homered for the Mets, who committed six errors that led to four unearned runs in suffering their fourth loss in five outings.
Wright hit his 30th homer of the season, becoming the fourth youngest player in major league history to have 30 homers and 30 stolen bases in a season. He is also the first Met to reach the 30-30 mark since Howard Johnson in 1987.
However, the Mets have rebounded after getting swept by the Phillies this year. After losing four straight to the club to end August, the Mets won 12 of 14 games before again being swept in this series.
Moises Alou extended his hitting streak to 20 games, ending with three of the nine hits for the Mets.
Without Hernandez, the Mets will start Brian Lawrence, who hasn't pitched since September 7 with Triple-A New Orleans. His last major league start came on August 27 in Philadelphia, and he took the loss after allowing five runs on 10 hits over 4 2/3 innings. Lawrence is 1-2 with a 6.31 ERA in five starts this year.
The right-hander is 0-3 with a 7.71 ERA in four career starts against the Washington franchise, though he hasn't faced them since 2003 when he was with the Padres and the Nats were still the Montreal Expos.
New York will try to rebound against a Washington club that has lost four of its last five games, including Sunday's 3-0 shutout at the hands of the Atlanta Braves.
D'Angelo Jimenez doubled and singled for the Nationals, while starter Shawn Hill (4-4) went five innings and allowed three runs on five hits with four walks and two strikeouts.
Right-hander Tim Redding will start for Washington tonight. He lost consecutive starts on August 25 and 31 before getting a no-decision on September 5 against Florida. Redding allowed two runs on four hits over 2 1/2 frames against the Marlins, leaving early after getting hit in the elbow, and is 3-5 with a 3.42 ERA.
Redding got a no-decision when he faced the Mets on July 28 and he is 1-0 with a 3.13 ERA in five games (four starts) against them.
New York is a healthy 8-4 against Washington this season and has beaten the club in five of six meetings at RFK Stadium. The Mets have won four in a row in the series and are 41-27 since the start of the 2004 season.
© 2007 The Sports Network
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