Game Recap: Phillies 6 – Mets 3

Another game, another late-inning, heart-breaking, soul-crushing defeat by the Philadelphia Phillies.

OK, maybe a little bit of an exaggeration, but it sure stung.

The Philadelphia Phillies (35-23) beat the New York Mets (31-27) by a score of 6-3 in 10 innings.

Tim Redding made the start for the Mets and turned out another good performance. Seven innings, six hits and three earned runs for Redding. He walked none and struck out six.

A very good, and surprising start, by Redding.

Pedro Feliciano turned in his third spectacular outing of the series, pitching another hitless inning. Bobby Parnell turned in an easy ninth inning and came out to start the tenth. After one out, Parnell let up a single to Shane Victorino and was removed from the game.

Ken Takahashi, whom lefties were hitting .440 off of entering the game, walked Chase Utley to start his outing. After striking out Ryan Howard for the second out, Raul Ibanez came to the plate. Ibanez parked a Takahashi pitch into the bullpen for a three-run blast, putting the Phillies in the lead for good.

I just don’t get this move. The Mets are sorely lacking a pitcher other than Feliciano who can get out left handed batters at a decent clip.

The Mets put one on the board in the first, third and fifth. All runs were scored by Luis Castillo and he was driven in each time by Carlos Beltran.

Beltran plated Castillo, who went 3-5, in three seperate ways. A groundout scored him in the first, a RBI double in the third and a sac-fly in the fifth.

David Wright went 3-4 on the night.

The Mets didn’t pick up a hit from the sixth inning until Omir Santos singled to lead off the bottom of the 10th.

Another game of score early, then don’t score again for the Mets bats.

Game Chat: PHI @ NYM [Game 3]

The rubber game between the Mets and the Phillies.
Enjoy some barstool-esque banter with some fellow fans.

(Chat removed, as usual.)

Lineup for series finale

Daniel Murphy completely missed this series, with Fernando Tatis taking every game at first base.  Gary Sheffield started every game in RF.

1. Luis Castillo – 2B
2. Alex Cora – SS
3. Carlos Beltran – CF
4. Gary Sheffield – LF
5. David Wright – 3B
6. Fernando Tatis – 1B
7. Fernando Martinez – RF
8. Omir Santos – C
9. Tim Redding - RHP

Ex-Mets: El Duque signs with the Rangers

According to T.R. Sullivan, the Texas Rangers have signed Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez to a minor league deal.

El Duque last pitched in the major leagues with the Mets in 2007, going 9-5 with a 3.72 ERA.

I’ll save my comments and refer to a Photoshop I put together when he was still with the Mets…

Meanwhile, his brother Livan Hernandez is 5-1 with a 3.88 ERA with the Mets the season.

Happy birthday, Jose Reyes

Jose Reyes celebrates his 26th birthday today.  Don’t hurry back.  (I mean that in the most sincere way possible!)

Phillies jerseys supposedly buried at Citi Field

How original!  Via MikeFrancesa.com:

I work for Hunt Construction. I was a foreman at Citi Field. There are 3 Phillies Jerseys buried in the ball park. As a lifelong Phillies fan, I felt it was my duty to jinx the Mets. I'm not telling you my real name for obvious reasons. The jerseys are:

1. Under the Fanwalk bricks.
2. Jackie Robinson Rotunda in the vicinity of the Ticket Office window.
3. Near the vicinity of the '47 Shop near right field.

The jinx really seems to be working, considering the Mets are 18-10 at their new home ballpark.

Great job buddy!

Oh yeah, and I’m calling shenanigans on this.  Total shenanigans.

Mets 2009 First-Year Player Draft picks

72	Steven Matz	LHP	6'02"	192	5/29/1991
103	Robert Shields	SS	6'01"	195	12/7/1987
134	Darrell Ceciliani	CF	6'01"	185	6/22/1990
164	Damien Magnifico	RHP	6'01"	180	5/24/1991
194	David Buchanan	RHP	6'03"	190	5/11/1989
224	Darin Gorski	LHP	6'04"	210	10/6/1987
254	John Freeman	C	6'00"	200	8/24/1987
284	Jeffrey Glenn	C	6'03"	185	9/22/1991
314	Nick Santomauro	RF	6'02"	205	6/13/1988
344	Samuel Honeck	1B	6'02"	215	6/19/1987
374	James Ewing	2B	6'00"	195	10/27/1986
404	Zachary Dotson	LHP	6'01"	180	10/30/1990
434	Ronald Harris	CF	6'02"	205	2/19/1987
464	Casey Schmidt	RHP	6'03"	205	10/12/1987
494	Jeffrey Greene	CF	5'11"	180	4/22/1990
524	Alexander Gregory	OF	6'02"	210	11/7/1986
554	Cody Holliday	OF	6'03"	210	9/30/1987
584	Nelfi Zapata	C	6'00"		12/13/1990
614	Joseph August	OF	6'01"	205	9/23/1986
644	Joseph Bonfe	3B	6'04"	220	12/28/1987
674	Zachary Von Tersch	RHP	6'04"	195	4/22/1988
704	John Church	RHP	6'03"	235	11/4/1986
734	Michael Johnson	RHP	5'10"	180	9/14/1987
764	Josh Dunn	3B	6'03"	215	12/9/1990
794	John Semel	OF	6'00"	182	3/31/1988
824	Kurt Steinhauer	OF	6'01"	205	3/29/1986
854	Brian Needham	RHP	6'07"	180	9/21/1986
884	ZeErika Hall	OF	5'11"	185	6/29/1988
914	Jordan Harrison	LHP	6'01"	180	4/9/1991

Poll Results: Mets fans split on Tim Redding

Last week, I asked my readers “What’s next for Tim Redding?”

Here are the results…

1. Cut him – 30%
2. Back to minors – 26%
3. Trade him – 22%
4. Keep him – 21%

Many of these votes came in before Redding turned out a nice performance against the Washington Nationals.  I would guess most of the votes would stay the same though, because it’s still the Nationals.

Next poll: Thoughts on Fernando Martinez so far?

Manuel’s Musing for June 10

“It's good for the rivalry. It's good for baseball.”

-Jerry Manuel on the Mets/Phillies rivalry

Game Recap: Phillies 5 – Mets 4

A spectacular game, even if the Mets came out on the Mets came out on the short end.

The Philadelphia Phillies (34-23) beat the New York Mets (31-26) by a score of 5-4 in 11 innings.

Mike Pelfrey pitched six good innings, allowing just three hits and one earned run.  The seventh started with two straight hits, followed by a misplay by Carlos Beltran in centerfield to load the bases.  Sean Green entered and let all three inherited runners score.  Pelfrey was charged with four runs (two earned) after a David Wright error kept the door open for the Phillies in the 7th.

Pedro Feliciano pitched a shutout inning and Francisco Rodriguez contributed two innings in relief.  Bobby Parnell pitched the 11th and allowed a leadoff home run to Chase Utley, his second of the game, to break the tie.  It was the first home run Parnell let up in his career.

The Mets were hot early, scoring four times in the first three innings.  From there, the bats went quiet with runners in scoring position.

Pelfrey helped himself, going 2-2 with a double, run scored and one RBI.  Alex Cora picked up two RBIs with a single and a groundout.  Luis Castillo also picked up an RBI.

In the bottom of the 10th with Fernando Martinez at first after a single, David Wright smoked a line drive to right field.  Jayson Werth came over and made a game-saving diving catch.  If the ball had gotten by him, the game was over.