Mets' struggles giving oxygen to Wild Card challengers

PHILADELPHIA -- The only reprieve for the Mets on Wednesday came well before first pitch. In the visitors’ clubhouse at Citizens Bank Park, a television was tuned to a matinee in San Francisco, where the Giants lost to the Diamondbacks. That result ensured that no matter what happened later in the evening, the Mets would retain at least a two-game lead in the National League Wild Card standings.

What followed was another dismal loss to the Phillies, this one a 11-3 defeat. Since sweeping the same Philadelphia team in New York two weeks ago, the Mets have gone 4-9. Since reaching their high-water mark of 21 games over .500 on June 12, they have gone 31-46 -- the fourth-worst record in Major League Baseball, ahead of only the Nationals, Twins and Rockies.

Along the way, the Mets (76-70) have made themselves potential prey for both the Giants and Reds (both 74-72), who lurk two games behind them in the Wild Card race. Neither of those teams has played particularly well of late. New York’s own poor performance has made that fact irrelevant.

“We have a good team,” shortstop Francisco Lindor said. “The bottom line is we just haven’t played at the standard that we all have for each other here.”

Although no one in the clubhouse has a definitive answer to why this has happened, it has nonetheless happened, plainly and clearly. With 16 games left on their schedule, the Mets have reached a point of urgency. They must play better if they wish to hang onto a playoff spot, full stop.

They did not do that Wednesday. Instead, Mets starter Clay Holmes allowed five of the first six batters he faced to reach base safely, hitting two of them, including Max Kepler with the bases loaded. Though Holmes settled down for a time, New York never recovered. Manager Carlos Mendoza stuck with Holmes into the fifth inning, then with reliever Gregory Soto for an unorthodox 10 batters, four of whom scored during a sixth-inning rally.

“Nothing seems to be working for us,” Mendoza said.

By the eighth, both teams were resting their regulars in advance of Thursday night’s series finale, which feels more and more like a must-win game for the Mets.

At this point, every game does.

“These games mean a lot,” Holmes said. “We can’t really afford to make these mistakes.”

Afterward, Lindor said he “wished we had the answers” to questions regarding New York’s inability to take control of the Wild Card race -- let alone the division, which realistically slipped out of its hands days ago, with their NL deficit to the Phillies (86-60) now at 10 games. The Mets employ one of the most expensive rosters in MLB history. They have not suffered a spate of injuries or other misfortunes. They simply have not executed at a consistent level since April.

The good news for the Mets is that time is working in their favor, not against them. Although the Giants and Reds are both drawing close, with the Diamondbacks (73-74) and Cardinals (72-75) lurking further behind, none of those teams has made the type of run necessary to leapfrog New York. With 2 1/2 weeks left in the regular season, one of them will likely need to be near-perfect to catch the Mets.

But if New York continues losing at this sort of clip, it will make things significantly easier on the competition.

To a man, the Mets say they are working hard behind the scenes, uncovering every stone possible to right these wrongs. They know simply sneaking into the postseason would give them a chance to reset the narrative entirely.

They also know their words mean nothing until or unless they actually do it.

“You see it all the time in baseball; things can switch in a hurry,” Holmes said. “I think there’s still that belief. All it takes is one little spark, and you never know what kind of run you can go on.”