Start Spreading Blues

Say the Dodgers do make the playoffs. All it appears it would get them is three days of misery and a long winter.

Win the National League West and they probably draw the St. Louis Cardinals, who beat them seven times in seven tries this year.

Win the wild card and they probably draw the New York Mets, who proved vastly superior over nine innings Thursday night in the opener of a much anticipated four-game series.

The Mets greeted the struggling Brad Penny with four consecutive hits in the first inning and never let up, crushing the Dodgers, 7-0, at Shea Stadium and trimming their lead to half a game over the idle San Diego Padres.

“They are better than good,” Manager Grady Little said of the Mets. “They are unusually good.”

Penny (15-8) threw hard, as usual, but the Mets hit back even harder -- as usual. They padded their league-leading slugging percentage with a three-run inside-the-park home run in the sixth by Jose Reyes, a towering home run into the Mets bullpen by former Dodger Jose Valentin and four doubles.

Meanwhile, Mets starter Tom Glavine (13-6) threw softly, as always. And the Dodgers went quietly, continuing a disquieting trend on what has been a rocky trip. They have scored two runs in their last 30 innings.

“Everybody has a brick wall they run into,” rookie center fielder Matt Kemp said.

The comment was meant figuratively but could have been taken literally because Kemp slammed into the wall twice, trying in vain to catch a double by Carlos Delgado in the first inning and the shot that enabled Reyes to record the first inside-the-park homer against the Dodgers since a grand slam by Tony Gwynn in 1997.

Andre Ethier and Rafael Furcal were robbed of hits against Glavine, who utilized his defense and a generous strike zone by umpire Bill Miller, scattering five hits in 6 1/3 innings, striking out five and walking none.

Glavine, 40, is a left-handed version of his former Atlanta Braves teammate and current Dodger, Greg Maddux, crafty and cunning, sneaky and sly.

Maddux, in fact, might have been the only Dodger who enjoyed watching Glavine (13-6) notch his 288th victory in his second start since missing 16 days because of a blood clot in his left arm.

“He’s more of a pitcher now,” Maddux said. “He mixes it up more than he used to. I used to be able to predict what he was going to throw. Now I can’t.

“He’s more entertaining. We’ve been through the pressures and pleasures this game brings.”

The Mets, runaway winners of the NL East, thoroughly enjoyed Penny’s 95-mph fastballs. Since his start in the All-Star game, Penny is 5-6 with an ERA over 5.00.

Speaking calmly in a barely audible tone -- a marked contrast to his handful of memorable emotional outbursts -- Penny said he doesn’t see any difference in his pitching.

“My changeup was probably the best it’s been in my career,” he said. “How many runs do I give up if things go my way? It’s just the way the ball bounces.”

Sitting alone a few lockers away from the media throng surrounding Penny was rookie left-hander Hong-Chih Kuo, a cap pulled over his eyes. He will make his first major league start tonight, and watching the Mets unload against Penny was not an encouraging prelude.

“I’ll give it my best,” Kuo said. “I know we need something positive and I’m ready. The Mets, though, they are good hitters. Very good hitters.”

steve.henson@latimes.com