On the Mets beat

“We just didn’t play good baseball tonight,” manager Jerry Manuel said. “It wasn’t a good game for us. This is really the first game in a long time we played this way. Hopefully it’s an aberration type of thing.”
All three facets of the game let the Mets down.
Pitching: Oliver Perez looked ticked off on the mound as the Reds took the lead for good in the sixth helped by a Brian Schneider passed ball. Perez stood with his hands on his hips following David Ross’ go-ahead single. After the inning, Perez threw his glove and kicked a garbage can in the dugout.
“He’s competing,” Manuel said. “That’s all fine with me. As long as you’re competing out there, I have no problem with that.”
Pedro Feliciano and Aaron Heilman combined to allow four runs in the seventh, all charged to Feliciano.
Hitting: David Wright and Carlos Beltran looked at third strikes from Mike Lincoln with the bases loaded and the Mets down a run to end the seventh. The Mets were 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and bounced into three double plays.
“We had a chance to win the ballgame,” Beltran said. “We just couldn’t come through offensively when the team needed it the most.”
Said Wright: “When they needed to make the big pitch, they did.”
Defense: Beltran kicked a ball in right-center for a run-scoring error in the Reds’ four-run bottom of the seventh. That inning was capped when Fernando Tatis dove for Joey Votto’s two-run triple in rightfield and missed it.
The Mets also missed a chance to move back into a first-place tie with the Phillies, who lost to Florida, 9-5.
Perez (6-6, 4.36 ERA) allowed three runs (two earned) in six innings and left trailing 3-2. The Reds went ahead in the sixth. Perez walked Edwin Encarnacion with one out. Encarnacion moved to second on a passed ball on an inside fastball and scored on a two-out single to right-center by No. 8 hitter Ross.
Perez, who earlier in the Ross at-bat had snapped his glove while receiving a ball back from Schneider, did not back up home plate on the hit. Instead, he stood on the mound looking annoyed.
The Reds also made some big plays and big pitches. Second baseman Brandon Phillips saved a run and a 2-2 tie in the fifth when he made a diving stop on a single by Jose Reyes, who got his first hit since the All-Star break in his 12th at-bat. Perez, who had doubled for his first career extra base hit, had to stop at third on Reyes’ single. Endy Chavez then bounced into an inning-ending double play.
In the sixth, the first two Mets singled, but Damion Easley bounced into a double play. After a walk to Carlos Delgado, Fogg got Tatis looking at a third strike.
The lack of clutch hitting reached a tipping point in the seventh. Down a run, the Mets loaded the bases with one out. Lincoln got Wright (3-for-4, solo home run) to look at a 3-and-2 curve and Beltran at a 3-and-2 fastball. The Mets had 10 hits, but scored only two runs for the second straight night.
“Hopefully at some point we’ll understand that situation a little better,” Manuel said. “At least put ourselves in a position to foul the ball off and get another shot at it. I’d rather see an ugly swing than a perfect swing.”
Or no swing.