Home » Mets 2008 Games » Mets Game 143: Win Over Phillies
2
September 7, 2008 Mets 2008 Games Joe Janish

Mets Game 143: Win Over Phillies

Mets 6 Phillies 3

The Mets needed this one, and this game was the exact reason the Mets traded half their farm system for Johan Santana.

As per his job requirement, Santana delivered.

Johan pitched seven and a third, and gave up two runs on five hits and three walks. After running into some trouble in the first three frames, he found a rhythm and shut down the not-so-fightin’ Phils the rest of the way.

But the hero of the game was Carlos “MVP” Delgado, who has done a remarkable job of coming full circle. Delgado drove in two runs in the bottom of the first to put the Mets ahead 3-1, then blasted two solo moon shots to give them a 5-2 advantage.

The Mets tacked on a run in the 8th on a triple by Damion Easley followed by a sac fly by Brian Schneider, which turned out big since he Phillies scored a run in the top of the ninth.

Luis Ayala gave up that run but finished the game with the Mets on the right side of the scoreboard. Pedro Feliciano and Brian Stokes did their jobs as well in the 8th to squelch a mini-rally.

Notes

Delgado’s hot evening resulted in him reaching 100 RBI for the ninth time in his career. He’s now tied for third in the NL in RBI, five behind teammate David Wright.

Remarkably, Carlos Lee is one of the men he’s tied with — and Lee hasn’t played since August 9th. Imagine what kind of year Lee might have finished with had he not been injured.

Delgado’s two dingers give him 33 on the season, catapulting him into fourth in the NL — one ahead of Albert Pujols and one behind Ryan Braun.

The debut of MetsChat.com was a little glitchy for game one, but seemed to be working OK for game two, and we had a few chatters (or twitters?). We may try it again if people are interested.

Next Game

Mets have a day off on Monday, then face host the Nationals on Tuesday for a 7:10 pm game. Oliver Perez goes against John Lannan.

Strangely, the Mets also have a day off on Thursday before the Braves come to town. In contrast, the Phillies have games on both days. Methinks the schedule is in favor of our Metsies.

Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers. Follow Joe's baseball tips on Twitter at @onbaseball and at the On Baseball Google Plus page.
Related Articles
  1. Micalpalyn September 8, 2008 at 12:09 pm
    My 2 cents:
    In game 1 given the awfull show i’d have played martinez at SS, a-rey at 2nd, chavez, murphy and church in the OF, evans at 1st and Molina at C. as one metsblog story pointed out moyer is not Cole hamels and the Mets have seen him 6times. ..

    in the 2nd game the Metsies…same guys tore hamels a new one. Del used him for his own personel HR derby tune up. in doing so the made a statement. interesting enuff, The mets can now pick on the nats and braves.

    Delgado: Not only is the pick up of the 8M dollar (or 12 depending on who u ask) option moot, but Del looks like he has made the idea of a 1yr extension palatable.

  2. sincekindergarten September 8, 2008 at 5:04 pm
    I think that a 1-year extension is palatable, as well. CDel didn’t hit 870+ feet worth of HRs last night just to get bought out this offseason.

    And it was nice seeing Hole Camels get his ego deflated–again–by the Mets. If Johan and CDel hadn’t been able to deliver last night, we could have witnessed the beginning of the end of the Mets’ season.