Home » Mets 2011 Games » Mets Game 94: Loss to Phillies
7
July 17, 2011 Mets 2011 Games Joe Janish

Mets Game 94: Loss to Phillies

Phillies 8 Mets 5

The Mets drop back to exactly .500. The Phillies go to 24 games over .500. There are 68 games left. I’m starting to doubt that there is enough time to close the gap. But hey, ya gotta believe!

Mets Game Notes

Hard to evaluate Mike Pelfrey’s outing. He fell behind early — allowing a first-inning run — then seemed to have a handle on things. After that first frame, he was able to retire the Phillies’ better hitters (Ryan Howard and Chase Utley in particular), but seemed to lose focus against the bottom of the lineup and the lesser hitters. Opposing pitcher Kyle Kendrick had two hits against him, Brian Schneider had another, and the most damaging blow came off the bat of Michael Martinez — a .215 hitter who hit his first career homerun. From his body language, it appeared as though Pelfrey “let up” when the lesser hitters came to the batter’s box, instead of keeping his focus and bearing down.

Meanwhile, the Mets could not get anything going against the great Kyle Kendrick, who didn’t do anything other than put the ball over the plate. The Mets drew three walks and collected six hits against him, but crossed home plate only once in his seven innings. It was only after Juan Perez came into the game and walked the first three batters he faced that the Mets offense woke up and looked like it might do something.

Perez did everything he could to let the game get away, but Charlie Manuel removed him before it did. He was eerily similar to another lefthanded pitcher with the same last name.

Willie Harris, Dan Murphy, Lucas Duda, and Ronny Paulino all had two hits apiece. Murphy also walked twice.

It was nice to see the Mets fight back in the final two frames, but not so nice to see the bullpen allow the Phillies to tack on and on and on.

Next Mets Game

The Mets stay home to host the Marlins on Monday night at 7:10 PM. Chris Capuano will go to the mound against Clay Hensley.

Tags: , ,

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. izzy July 17, 2011 at 6:12 pm
    The good news is that all the Jason Bay haters will be out on full force celebrarting the fact that he seems to be taking his ABs to the field with him. Was it Ed Whitson whom the Yankees couldn’t pitch at home? Jason Bayt may soon not be able to play at home. Poor Jason, once the Met fandom decides to hate you they never forgive.
  2. gary s. July 17, 2011 at 10:58 pm
    Poor Jason.That;s pretty funny.Compared to what castillo and perez heard from the fans, Bay is getting a free ride and at least castillo and perez had some success before going bad.Jason Bay has stunk from day one.I don’t hate Jason Bay, i just would like to see him wearing a different uniform after August 1.
    • Joe July 18, 2011 at 12:43 am
      I too don’t hate Jason Bay. I hate that he was overpaid and doing nothing. A few weeks of him being hot, which is what you expect from a player making 1/3 or less of his salary, isn’t going to cut it. He has been here 1.5 years now, hurt only part of the time. He seems like a nice guy. He really should be let go, even if it requires eating a lot of salary. There are OFs cheap, including in the minors, to fill his slot. Put Duda there even. Bay isn’t doing anything and is a drag on the team. Going forward is removing drags, even if they are not as blatant as Perez and Castillo, who I agree had some success at least, even if with Perez it’s hard to remember it.
      • friend July 18, 2011 at 11:07 am
        About the time Jason Bay came over here, there was a “Freaky Friday” incident in which Jason Bay and Jose Bautista switched bodies. Check out the stats!!
        • izzy July 18, 2011 at 12:26 pm
          Jason Bay only seems to be getting a free ride because the intensity of the booing hasn’t reached Castillo or Perezian proportions yet. Neither fo them were booed to the ultimate extrems either. And if Bay were to find a new home you all would just decide on the next Met fandom victim anyway….Pelfrey, Wright, Pagan, and the same words used on Perez/Castillo/Bay and Looper, Benitez ,Franco before them will be used on the next p0or guy. Yeah, Bay has totally sucked, yeah Bay could use a new home maybe, yeah he’s getting too much $$$ so why hasn’t the slow to move GM done it??? Don’t say you can’t move Bay because if Toronto could move Vernon Wells with a worse contract and if Toronto could move Alex Rios wiuth a worse contract sirely the genius and his band of fired assistant GMs could foind a home for Jason Bay. He’d probably love Seattle , close to Trail and no pressure to excel.
        • gary s. July 18, 2011 at 12:32 pm
          mickey mantle was booed in his prime.You seem to very uninformed.Plus, if i was making 16 mill to play baseball who cares if a few fans boo.All he has to do is show a pulse and the booing will stop
  3. Jimmy Prinzler July 18, 2011 at 2:21 am
    Joe, Why don’t Mets try to trade Pelfrey? He’s going to be free agent and I dont think Mets would re-sign him (4.67 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, and .273 BAA. He’s horrible in NL East, 7.71 ERA against PHI, 7.20 ERA against ATL, 4.76 against FLA and yet to face WSH this year. He’s bad against Yankees as well with 7.50 ERA. Mets play a total of 72 games in NL East and 6 games with Yankees. Mike Pelfrey is a cancer to NY Mets as Fausto Carmona (4-10 with high 5 ERA) to Cleveland. Yankees was trying to obtain Carmona last year tho.