The Mets took advantage of a multitude of errors by the Phillies Wednesday night, scoring six unearned runs and breaking their nine game losing streak against the Phillies, winning convincingly 8-2.
Mike Pelfrey pitched five innings, needing exactly 100 pitches, 66 went for strikes. Big Pelf allowed two earned runs on five hits and two walks while striking out three. Pelfrey gave up a run in the second inning off of a Carlos Ruiz single, which scored Pat Burrell, who singled earlier in the inning. In the fifth inning, with Pelfrey starting to tire as his pitch count rose, he walked Eric Bruntlett and then allowed a double to Chase Utley for the second, and final, run of the game for the Phillies.
He kept the ball down, which was the key tonight. Still, the starters are needing too many pitches to get through the first few innings. He kept the Phillies in check for five innings, and that has got to be a nice boost to his confidence. Good stuff, just keep it going.
The Mets bullpen stepped up to the plate (figuratively) and brought their A-game today, pitching four scoreless innings, allowing only three hits. Jorge Sosa pitched two perfect innings in relief, tallying one strike out. Pedro Feliciano, who was in the stadium tonight, turned in a scoreless inning, allowing two hits, both singles, and loaded the bases with a walk before retiring the side in the eighth inning. Carlos Muniz got another shot to show what he has, coming in to finish out the game. Muniz struck out the first batter he faced before surrendering a double to Chris Coste. He then retired the next two batters to end the game.
Oh bullpen, don't leave us ever again. Sosa can be so good some times. He's invaluable to this team. Glad Feliciano could get in there and get an inning in for the team. It was a little shaky, but no damage was done. Muniz has looked very good in his two outings. I like him a lot.
The Mets were the benefactors of nine walks handed out by the Phillies pitching staff and four errors (three in one inning) by the defense, as they only picked up five hits, yet still scored eight runs.
New York struck early, as Jose Reyes led off the game with a walk, moved to second on a ground out from Angel Pagan, and scored on an error by Utley after David Wright put the ball in play.
This was the first error of the eventual four that would be committed by the Phillie defense. No remorse from Mets fans, that's for sure.
The third inning is where the wheels fell off for the Phillies. Here's how it went down: Carlos Delgado led off the inning, going the other way with a double to deep left field. Ryan Church followed with a single, moving Delgado to third. Damion Easley, filling in for an injured Luis Castillo, singled driving in Delgado for the first run of the inning. After a line out from Brian Schneider, Pelfrey came to the plate and reached on what was ruled a fielders choice, with an error from Ruiz. Reyes followed by reaching on another error, as Bruntlett booted his ground ball and Church came around to score. Pagan came up and doubled down the third base line, driving in Easley and Pelfrey. That was the final batter for Kendrick, who only lasted 2 1-3 of an inning, allowing four hits, seven runs, but only one was earned.
One would think that's where the craziness ended, but one would be wrong. Kendrick just does not have the same stuff he showed last year. Maybe that prank really hit him hard.
Chad Durbin relieved Kendrick, and fared no better. Wright hit another ball to Bruntlett at short, who committed another error, allowing Reyes to score again. With Carlos Beltran batting, Durbin threw a wild pitch, allowing Pagan to come in and score.
Now can all you Mets fans step back from the ledge, take a breath, and enjoy the season? Yes, we all know every game is incredibly important, but it's only the seventh game! We'll be all right, I hope.
The Mets did leave nine men on base today, with Beltran leaving five men standing around all by his lonesome. The Mets got doubles from Delgado and Pagan and RBIs from Easley, Reyes, Wright and Pagan (2).
Again, nice to get a win, but very troubling how many men were left on base. Thank goodness for the errors or this would have been a completely different game. Pelfrey showed glimpses of talent, as usual, but couldn't keep it up for a whole game. We need more from him and all our starting pitchers. Good stuff tonight, capitalizing on errors, even if it took an inning or two.
Game Ball: Pagan, again!