The Phillies went into their series with the Mets down by two games. They’re leaving the series down by three games. What’s probably the most disappointing was how Tuesday’s game was blown.
In the top of the seventh, the Phillies got two insurance runs to give them an 8-5 lead. Then in the bottom of the eighth, Ryan Franklin gave up three runs that tied the game. Ryan Madson threw six great innings, then finally gave up a Carlos Beltran solo homerun in his seventh inning of work which ended the game.
For a great read on how Charlie Manual blew this one big time, go check out Joe Sheehan’s column at Baseball Prospectus. Arthur Rhodes and/or Tom Gordon should have been in there, not Patterson. And for Manuel to leave him in there was gross mismanagement. He cost us this game.
Gavin Floyd was hit hard in the 9-8 loss. On the hitting side, Chase Utley had three hits and David Bell homered and had five RBIs.
Yesterday’s game wasn’t much better. The Phillies jumped out to a three run lead, only to lose it by the fourth inning. The Phillies tied it in the seventh, but the Mets answered with a run in the bottom half of the inning to put the game away.
Ryan Cormier took the loss and Jon Lieber didn’t help much in his start. Lieber went six innings and he gave up four runs on seven hits and four walks. Pat Burrell hit his twelth homerun of the season and drove in two runs.
Thankfully, Bret Myers put together a good start for us today. While he gave up a 3-0 lead, he held on and picked up his third win of the season. Bobby Abreau and Ryan Howard both homered in the first inning. Tom Gordon finally got to pitch and he picked up his fourteenth save of the season.
Milwaukee comes to town for a three game series this weekend. All we can do is keep pluggng away. Maybe the Mets will falter, but at this point, that’s hard to count on.
