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Late homers by Marlins keep Mets from playoffs

Sep 29, 2008 - 1:30 AM By Larry Fleisher PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) -- The New York Mets could not take care of business themselves and they could not get any assistance from the Chicago Cubs.

Pinch hitter Wes Helms opened the top of the eighth inning with a solo home run off Scott Schoeneweis and Dan Uggla followed with a blast off Luis Ayala as the Florida Marlins eliminated the Mets from the National League wild card race with a 4-2 victory in the final game at Shea Stadium on Sunday.

"Very disappointing," New York center fielder Carlos Beltran said. "It's a bad feeling because we knew we could have won this."

"We haven't been able to put it togeter for whatever reason," Mets first baseman Carlos Delgado added. "We were a playoff-caliber ballclub and that didn't get it done."

The Mets never led and managed just a two-run homer by Beltran in the sixth among four hits and wound up being eliminated on the final day of the regular season by the Marlins for the second consecutive season.

"It is a satisfaction," Helms said of eliminating the Mets again. "We're up here to win the game and it just worked out where we knocked them out of the playoffs. The sensation I think is that they're in our division. We don't want two teams in our division to make the playoffs."

The Marlins knocked the Mets out last year on the final day by chasing Tom Glavine with one out in the first inning in an 8-1 rout. That completed a collapse that saw New York blow a seven-game lead with 17 games to play, which might have had a carryover effect to the first few months of 2008.

"I know it's part of this," said interim manager Jerry Manuel, who was 55-38 after replacing Willie Randolph in June. "It will always be until we get to the postseason."

The Mets often insisted after every bad loss that this year it would be different but in the end they could not overcome their extremely spotty bullpen, which blew 29 saves and a league-leading 16 after the All-Star break.

"It's something that hits you," New York third baseman David Wright said. "It really hits you hard."

One of the the relief culprits in this one was Schoeneweis (2-6), whose 1-1 fastball went into the left-field bleachers. That home run came moments after Milwaukee tied its game with the Chicago Cubs at 1-1.

"To do it front of 50,000 fans, especially with the situation, it makes you feel good," Helms said.

If that wasn't bad enough for the 56,059 fans that filled the 45-year-old ballpark, the next crushing blow came when Uggla hit a 3-2 pitch over the left-field fence off Ayala, who was acquired from Washington to help stabilize things after Billy Wagner was placed on the disabled list.

"It's part of the game," said Ayala, who gave up critical home runs to Chicago's Aramis Ramirez and Atlanta's Greg Norton in the final two weeks. "I think every team has bullpen problems. We're human."

That blast came moments before Milwaukee's Ryan Braun hit a two-run homer off Bobby Howry that catapulted the Brewers to a 3-1 victory on Sunday and their first postseason berth since 1982.

New York attempted a comeback off Kevin Gregg in the eighth as leadoff hitter Jose Reyes' double bounced over the right-center field wall, bringing up Beltran. Beltran worked out a walk and up stepped Delgado, whose offensive resurgence keyed New York opening of a 3 1/2-game lead in the NL East on September 12.

Lefthander Arthur Rhodes came to face Delgado and he needed just two pitches to retire the slugger on a flyout to left field. Former Met prospect Matt Lindstrom issued a two-out walk to Damian Easley in the ninth before retiring Ryan Church on a flyout for the final out at Shea, notching his fifth save.

For the second straight game, the desperation of the situation forced the Mets to use a pitcher on three days' rest and Oliver Perez allowed two runs and four hits in 5 1/3 innings. Pitching on short rest for the third time in his career, Perez blanked the Marlins for five innings but could not escape the sixth, allowing three straight hits before recording an out.

He gave up John Baker's RBI single and then following a one-out intentional walk to Uggla. Joe Smith came on in relief but walked Josh Willingham with the bases loaded as the Marlins took a 2-0 lead.

New York managed to get it back off Florida starter Scott Olsen when Beltran hit his 27th home run in the sixth. Olsen, who allowed two runs and three hits in six innings, kept the game tied by striking out Delgado and retiring Wright to end the frame.

Reliever Joe Nelson (3-1) picked up the win, striking out two batters in a perfect seventh.

"We didn't make the playoffs, they didn't the playoffs," Nelson said. "It's a moral victory."