Marlins' playoff hopes keep on wasting away

The headline pretty well sums it up.

Marlins' playoff hopes keep on wasting away

By Joe Capozzi

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

NEW YORK ? The New York Mets managed just four hits in 12 innings against the Florida Marlins on Tuesday, but it was the final two that drove the Marlins closer to sitting at home for the playoffs.

Mike Jacobs' single down the right-field line scored David Wright, giving the Mets a 3-2 victory at Shea Stadium. Wright started the rally off loser Brian Moehler with a two-out double before Mike Piazza was intentionally walked.

"It's not good, man," said A.J. Burnett, who finally had a strong outing after struggling for all of September, allowing two hits and one earned run in eight innings. He didn't allow a hit in the first six innings. "This one hurts."

The gut-wrenching loss dropped the Marlins three games behind the Houston Astros in the wild-card race. The Astros, who beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-4, also gained on Philadelphia, which fell two games behind after losing to Atlanta 4-1.

All three teams have 11 games remaining.

Moehler (6-10) retired Carlos Beltran and Cliff Floyd to start the 12th before pitching into trouble.

"It's tough when you get A.J. to pitch the way he did," manager Jack McKeon said. "The pitching for the most part did a good job, but we're back to the same situation where we were trying to score runs."

The Marlins' runs came on solo home runs by Paul Lo Duca in the second and Carlos Delgado in the seventh.

Delgado set the franchise record for the most home runs by a left-handed hitter (32), passing Floyd, who hit 31 for the Marlins in 2001.

Burnett, who struck out nine and walked one, took the blame for the loss. Twice he could not hold a one-run lead, allowing the Mets' first run in the fourth on a wild pitch and the second run in the seventh on Floyd's long single that scored Victor Diaz.

"If I make a pitch to Cliff Floyd the ballgame is over in the ninth," Burnett said. "One pitch. It's so frustrating, especially right now with this race. I was in control of the game."

Burnett had two strikes on Floyd, both on curveballs. Floyd then hit a fastball that was over the middle of the plate.

"I should have thrown another hook," Burnett said.

Burnett snapped a streak in which he had lost five consecutive starts, equaling his career high. Burnett had a 7.40 ERA and opponents were hitting.301 against him during the skid.

Burnett breezed through six innings without allowing a hit, although the Mets scored in the fourth on the wild pitch. Jose Reyes reached on an error by rookie shortstop Robert Andino, whose errant throw allowed Reyes to advance to second base. He then stole third base without a throw before scoring.

Diaz led off the seventh inning with a slicing double that landed about a foot inside the right field line. Diaz advanced on a ground out by Beltran, who has not played up to expectations since signing a big free-agent contract in the off-season and was jeered all night by the crowd of 21,275.

Floyd then laced his single off the right field wall to score Diaz and tie the game.

The Marlins' best chance to win the game came in the eighth when Jeff Conine was thrown out by Floyd while attempting to score from second on Juan Encarnacion's two-out single. Floyd's throw arrived just ahead of Conine, who slid into Piazza's glove as the Mets' catcher blocked the plate.

The collision knocked Piazza onto his back and several feet off the plate.

"We probably had more opportunities to score than they did, but we just couldn't cash in," McKeon said.

The Marlins had one hit in the extra innings, a single by Joe Dillon to start the 12th that should have been a double had he not slipped coming out of the batter's box. Juan Pierre then failed to put down a sacrifice bunt and Dillon was stranded at first.

Pierre and Miguel Cabrera each went 0-for-6.

Mets starter Kris Benson kept the Mets in the game during Burnett's dominant start. Benson gave up four hits and two runs in seven innings. He struck out four and walked two.

Noteworthy: Lo Duca was removed for a pinch-runner in the 11th inning after tweaking his injured right hamstring. Lo Duca twice grabbed his hamstring during his at bat, in which he walked. Matt Treanor replaced Lo Duca behind the plate.