Not dire yet, but falling to Nats hurt

The almost unfathomable disintegration of the Mets' season continued unaborted on Tuesday night in a manner all too familiar to a team that, a week ago, was enjoying the comforts of first place. The lead in the National League East still belongs to the Mets on this day, though it is narrower than it has been since the day they played their 70th game, and whatever comforts they knew last week are gone, lost in the steep decline that almost has consumed them.

And, at this point, in a five-game losing streak, the Mets have done all there is to do to affect the necessary reversal; not that there was all that much to do. "You have a meeting, and that's pretty much it," Tom Glavine said. "We did that." Continue