History Repeats Itself (Sort Of) As Dodgers Blank Mets

The Mets got shut out again last night. That's no surprise. They only had 4 hits the entire game. That's no surprise either. They haven't had an extra base hit in who even knows how many games at this point - much less a home run. And that's certainly no surprise with this weak hitting team of AAA type players at this point. The surprise is the way history repeats itself... somewhat.

When the Dodgers played their first game at Shea Stadium way back in 1964, the Mets were bad and the Dodgers were good, yet they lost to the Amazin's by a score of 8-0. Fast forward 45 years, and the Dodgers come into town to play their first game at Citi Field (and we all know how "Dodger-friendly" the ballpark is) when the Mets are supposedly good, yet the team from LA spanked the New Yorkers by an identical 8-0 score.

It must be tough for the Mets starting pitching staff to know that as soon as they allow just one run, the game's over. It didn't take Mike Pelfrey long to take his fourth loss of the year as the Dodgers and Manny Ramirez put up 3 quick runs to basically take the Mets completely out of the game in the second inning.

The Mets have now lost 9 of 11 and gone scoreless in the last 22 consecutive innings, with just 10 hits - all singles. Met pitchers walked seven Dodgers in the game and Met batters grounded twice into double plays. Dodger pinch hitter Blake DeWitt hit a seventh inning homerun off Tim Redding that still hasn't landed. Met pinch hitter Argenis Reyes struck out looking. Regardless, it was fun watching Manny Ramirez get tossed from the game, the lone Met highlight if you can even call it that.

In their last 4 games, the Mets have hit a measly .183, been outscored 21-3 and struck out 28 times. The "DaRK Wright" went o-for-3 again and is now hitless in his last 16 at-bats while the Mets have dropped into fourth place, 4½ games behind the NL East-leading Phillies. And, according to team sources, no timetable has been set for the return of anyone on the disabled list and the front office believes the team can still compete in the NL East "as-is".

Back in 1964, Met fans didn't know it, but they only had to wait 5 more years for a championship season. These days, with the way the Mets operate, I fear a much longer wait for history to repeat itself.