Mets Lead Slimmed to One As Nationals Sweep at Shea

With their pitching staff in tatters, the free-falling Mets blew a five-run lead last night and lost again to Washington.

They're in danger of blowing the whole NL East race, too.

New York wasted two homers by Carlos Beltran and another from Moises Alou in a 9-6 loss to the Nationals that sliced the team's lead to one game over secondplace Philadelphia.

The Phillies, who beat Atlanta 5-2, haven't been this close to first place since they lost on opening day. It's the Mets' slimmest margin since they were a halfgame in front before play on May 17.

Betrayed by a brutal bullpen and ineffective starting pitching, New York has dropped six straight home games and nine of 13 overall.

Ryan Church homered and drove in four runs for the Nationals, who completed a threegame sweep at Shea Stadium and improved to 5-1 against the Mets over a 10-day span.

Fans have started to turn on the Mets, too. Many in the crowd of 51,940 booed throughout the late innings as New York flopped once more against a fourth-place team.