Nightmare Road Trip Continues For N.Y. Mets

NATIONALS 7

METS 1

The road trip from Hell continued Saturday night for the New York Mets; they fell to the Washington Nationals 7-1 in a fast-moving affair that lasted under two hours.

In fact, this game was decided after 15 minutes. John Maine had nothing for the Metropolitans since he was smacked around pretty hard for seven runs on six hits. It was Maine's worst start of the season.

Nick Johnson tortured Maine all night. In the first inning, he lined a double off of the scoreboard in right field, narrowly missing a home run. Ryan Zimmerman drove Johnson in with a single to left center to give the Nats a quick 1-0 lead. Then, Adam Dunn, who hit the longest home run in Citi Field history over a week ago, hit one into bleachers in right field to give the Nationals a 3-0 lead.

In the bottom of the fourth, the game went from the sublime to the absolutely ridiculous. With Luis Castillo on first, Emil Brown (that's right Emil Brown!?!?!)skied to deep right. Elijah Dukes tried to make a dive for the ball, but he trapped it with his glove. While sitting on his back, Dukes threw the ball back into the infield to the cut-off man, first baseman Nick Johnson.

At this moment, Luis Castillo ran back to first base, thinking that Dukes had originally caught the ball. Brown, thinking the ball fell in for a hit, ran right past Castillo. Brown was called out for passing the runner on base, and Castillo was tagged out at second for misreading the ball. It was total case of the Keystone Cops, but then again, the Mets are the Keystone Cops.

Finally, in the fifth, Johnson put the kibosh on this night, when he blasted a three run home run to right to give the Nationals a 7-0 lead. Johnson who is rumored to be traded to the Mets at some point this season, certainly put on a show. He went 3 for 4 with 3 RBI and a home run.

The Mets are now 1-4 on this road trip against the garbage of the National League in the Pirates and Nationals. Not exactly what the doctor ordered before the team is to play the Phillies and Yankees in the coming week. Box Score.