NEW YORK _ Sunday afternoon brought a sweet, temporarily release to the Mets' clubhouse. Their 6-1 loss to the Nationals sent the Mets into the All-Star break with a microcosm of their season: strong starting pitching, minimal hitting and bad bullpen work.
Parlaying injuries with underperformance, the Mets, who expected to contend, finish the first half tied with the Marlins, who did not expect to contend, for last place in the NL East. The Mets are winless in their past 16 series, a stretch that will reach the two-month mark by the time they get back on the field Friday against the Yankees.
The hope _ manager Mickey Callaway's hope _ is time away from the ballpark will do the Mets some good after a miserable three months.
"We need to regroup and start playing baseball the way we're capable of," Callaway said. "We're in a really good spot. I think three or four days off is going to allow us to take a deep breath, come back and start playing the game the way we need to play."
The Nationals went 3-for-4 with two walks and two hit-by-pitches in the game-deciding seventh. Three Mets relievers combined to allow five runs, more than the bullpen had given up in its previous 22 2/3 innings (four runs).
Anthony Swarzak walked his only two batters and mixed in an errant throw to second on a would-be pickoff. Tim Peterson recorded two outs, but also allowed two singles, including Daniel Murphy's pinch-hit, two-run line drive to right to put Washington up. Jerry Blevins hit consecutive batters with pitches to force in a run. The inning ended only when Trea Turner, who scored two more with a single off Blevins, got picked off/caught stealing second.
Both teams swung in the early innings as if they had four days of vacation awaiting them. Mets righty Corey Oswalt needed only 59 pitches in five innings. Washington right-hander Jeremy Hellickson, 73 in six. The first four and a half innings _ half the game _ took only an hour.
Callaway lifted Oswalt in the bottom of the fifth, despite a low pitch count, to take a shot at scoring a runner on third with two outs. It didn't work, with pinch-hitter Dominic Smith getting hit by a pitch and Brandon Nimmo flying out to center.
Oswalt, though, pitched well. He allowed two hits and one run, walking none and striking out one. In his past two starts, he has allowed three hits and four runs in 11 innings, making a case to keep Jason Vargas' rotation spot to open the second half.
