NEW YORK_One day after Terry Collins launched into a four-minute tirade about effort and accountability, perhaps a last-ditch effort to save his job and the season, the Mets officially became a losing team for the first time since the earliest days of the season.
The seemingly inevitable distinction became official on Friday night, after an 8-6 loss to the also-ran Padres, the Mets' fourth in a row. They are 57-58, under the .500 mark for the first time since April 17.
With Collins' job security increasingly appearing tenuous, the Mets have dropped to 3-8 in their last 11 games and 10-17 since the All-Star break.
Logan Verrett, pitching for his spot in the rotation, gave up four homers in a horrendous 2 2/3-inning performance. He departed with the Mets down six runs.
The Padres' Ryan Schimpf bashed two homers, both of them off Verrett, on the way to knocking in six runs. The Mets trailed 5-0 in the first inning, inviting a flood of boos as dark clouds threatened rain that never came.
Before the game, Collins revealed the motivation of his tirade, and his subsequent meeting with the team.
"Once in a while, you've just got to wake everybody up," he said.
The themes were straightforward. He spoke to playing with energy and passion. He insisted that it was not too late to halt the tailspin. Mostly, he wanted to make it clear that the malaise hadn't gone unnoticed, which he said was a "major part of the message."
For all of their troubles _ injuries that have gutted the Opening Day roster, dominant pitching that has looked increasingly fragile as the season has worn on, regression from the likes of Michael Conforto _ a wild card remained within reach.
"We're still in it," Collins said, hours before his patience was stretched to the brink once again.
Before Verrett managed to record the third out of the first inning, the Mets stared at a 5-0 deficit. Schimpf did most of the damage, smashing his grand slam over the fence in right center before Jabari Blash teed off to make it back-to-back homers. Boos rained down.
Verrett invited mock cheers, then fired his glove into the bench upon his return from the dugout. In the stands, noticing the ominous lighting strikes and thunder claps in the distance, fans resorted for one of baseball's oldest tricks. They prayed for rain. They were unanswered.
Travis d'Arnaud bashed a two-run homer in the second, providing temporary reprieve. But Verrett got burned again in the third, surrendering a two-run shot to Schimpf. Two batters later, Christian Bethancourt hit the Padres' fourth homer and Verrett was done.
Since stepping into the rotation for Matt Harvey, Verrett has a 7.18 ERA. He left with the Mets facing an 8-2 deficit _ just one day after Collins' plea for passion.
But right then, with a six-run deficit to overcome, the Mets showed the kind of fire that Collins hoped to see. They scratched a run across in the fifth on Jay Bruce's RBI single.
In the sixth, the Mets tacked on three more runs. Matt Reynolds and Ty Kelly _ stalwarts at Triple-A Las Vegas pressed into service because of injuries _ strung together run-scoring hits. Wilmer Flores came off the bench and pushed across another run by bouncing into a forceout.
Meanwhile, the Mets bullpen held the line behind Verrett. The trio of Seth Lugo, Erik Goeddel and Hansel Robles tossed 6 1/3 scoreless innings, keeping alive the hope of completing a rally.
Yet all that fight came too late.
