NEW YORK _ An 11-1 start seems like a distant memory at this point, instead replaced by a two-week stretch of poor baseball that has ousted the Mets from atop the NL East.
With a chance to avoid a sweep Thursday, the Mets instead only gave their fans reasons to boo on multiple occasions as the Braves completed a thorough thrashing.
All is not well in New York.
The Mets' continue to trend downward with an 11-0 loss to Atlanta on Thursday marking the team's second straight shutout loss. Jason Vargas and Matt Harvey both were dreadful while the offense didn't tally a hit off Julio Teheran until the seventh inning.
Atlanta outscored the Mets 21-2 in this three-game sweep, and the Mets (17-11) have lost 10 of their last 16 games.
"Things have not gone well and that's part of a long baseball season, you're going to have ups and downs," Mets manager Mickey Callaway said after the Mets fell to 1-5 against the Braves. "The main thing we have to do is continue to do the same things we did when we were going well and eventually we'll come out of it."
Teams alternate between hot and cold streaks throughout a grueling 162-game season, and the Mets are enduring a stretch where not much is going right.
When they were 11-1, they were playing over their heads. This roster is talented, but would not be mistaken for a juggernaut. The team pitched well during that stanza, the bullpen rarely faltered, and the offense showcased resiliency almost every night.
These last two weeks are closer to what most would expect from the Mets, although they are better than they have played lately. This series against Atlanta was the team's nadir with the Braves dominating the Mets in every facet in these three games.
Atlanta simply looked and played like a better team.
"Nothing we can do about it," said Mets second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera, who broke up the no-hitter. "We got to forget about this series."
The Mets had no shot Thursday due to another awful outing by Vargas, and the rotation has struggled during this 16-game stretch, going 2-7 with a 4.89 ERA.
Vargas has been awful in his two starts since being activated from the disabled list, allowing 15 runs in just 8 1/3 innings. He's allowed five homers.
The lefty put the Mets in an immediate 3-0 hole by surrendering a two-run homer to Kurt Suzuki, and allowed homers to Ronald Acuna Jr. and Nick Markakis in the fourth inning to put the Mets behind, 6-0. The fans heavily booed Vargas as he exited.
He surrendered those six runs on 11 hits in 3 2/3 innings.
"In between the lines you can't have excuses," Vargas said. "I've got to be able to put guys away, the two-strikes pitches didn't have anything on them."
Harvey didn't provide any relief in his first outing as a reliever at Citi Field with the struggling righty allowing five runs in two innings. Ozzie Albies stroked a three-run homer off Harvey in the seventh inning that put Atlanta ahead, 11-0.
He once again tried to focus on a positive after the game, but, like Vargas, he too exited the field to a chorus of boos. The only moment the fans cheered in the later innings was when Cabrera's two-out double in the seventh ended Teheran's attempt to make history.
Teheran once again dominated the Mets with seven scoreless innings, and the Mets have now failed to score in their last 18 innings.
"We'd be doing an injustice to blame anything and not giving credit where credit is due," Callaway said. "That kid pitched a hell of a game."
Early in the year, there were hardly any boos for this team. Now, as the Mets have come back to the pack, they've given fans plenty of reasons to be upset.
Callaway, ever the optimist, has not expressed concern.
"They're still playing the game the right way, we're just not on the winning side," Callaway said. "If we keep on doing that, we're going to be fine."
