Mets Game 129: Win Over Phillies

Mets 9 Phillies 5

The Mets make forward movement in the fight for third place. Check the sky for falling lizards, however, because the Mets won this game primarily because of the bullpen.

Mets Game Notes

Chris Young was terrible, as one might expect from a fly-ball pitcher in a homerun-happy ballpark. There may be some people saying, “oh, he made only one mistake” — referring to the pitch that became a grand slam off the bat of Ryan Howard — but the rest of us know better. Young made MANY mistakes, and was lucky to get away with most of them. Also, there is the matter of loading the bases in the first place — i.e., two walks and a hit by pitch, which account for nine bad pitches right there. No need to harp on the matter; bottom line is, Young pitched poorly from the get-go.

Lucky for the Mets, Phillies starter Vance Worley wasn’t much better, and like Young, didn’t make it through the fifth inning. It became a battle of the bullpens, and, for once, the Mets relievers were on the long end of the stick. Who would have guessed?

Speaking of, Bobby Parnell was touching triple digits as he dominated the Phillies while earning a two-inning win. About time he comes up big, isn’t it?

I didn’t realize how slow afoot is Domonic Brown until David Wright scored from first in the 8th on Kelly Shoppach‘s two-out single. Apparently, he’s dealing with left knee issues now, after suffering right knee issues earlier in the season. Brown is not a slugger — he’s more of a hit-for-decent-average guy — so if he can’t run, I’m not sure how he fits into a big-league lineup. John Mayberry, Jr. is pretty much the same. They remind me of Warren Cromartie, who played LF and 1B for the Expos way back when, who was a singles hitter with no speed and average at best in the field. I mean, a .270 average is nice, but, if you have absolutely no other above-average skills to bring to the table, I’m not sure how you fit in MLB as anything other than a pinch-hitter.

Daniel Murphy was credited with three hits. At least one of them should have been scored an error — his “infield hit” in the fifth. The number of gifts by official scorers — given both to Mets hitters and their opponents — is getting ridiculous. It’s as though someone has issued a mandate to lower the standards of Major League fielding, and/or to pump up batting averages as much as possible. If batting average was a poor measurement before, it’s becoming laughable now.

Yet again, a Mets baserunner ran through a stop sign put up by third-base coach Tim Teufel. Ike Davis completely ignore Teufel as he rambled around third and scored on a single by Lucas Duda in the 10th. Since Davis was successful, you can’t be too upset. But, this has happened many times with many Mets and Teufel — what’s the issue? Do the Mets not trust Teufel? Is Teufel not a very good third base coach? Are the Mets simply not looking for their coach?

I realize the Mets won the game, but I feel it was in spite of, rather than because of, Terry Collins‘ managerial decisions. Why, for example, Collins left Young in to face Chase Utley in the fifth is beyond comprehension, especially considering that Utley hit about four foul homers off Young in previous at-bats. Why in the world was lefty Robert Carson warming in the ‘pen, if not to face Utley and Howard? And, with the Mets’ season in the crapper, don’t we want to see Carson get reps against the big lefthanded beasts of the NL East, to see what he’s made of? Baffling.

Later, Collins pulled back Jason Bay from pinch-hitting for Mike Baxter in the 8th, after Shoppach hit his RBI double that tied the game. I’m not going to argue with a decision not to put Bay up to bat (Justin Turner is my choice in that spot). But, I AM going to question why Collins would plan to send a righthanded hitter against Antonio Bastardo when the team was behind, but would not follow through with the plan once the game was tied with two outs. When a team is on the road, it doesn’t make much sense to play for the tie — you have to play for the win. Moreover, you want to strike while the iron is hot, and ride the momentum.

After their dismal homestand, I figured they were destined for the basement. However, this game has instilled me with faith: I think if they can carry this momentum, and if things go just right, there is a really, really good chance that the Mets can finish fourth.

Next Mets Game

The Mets and Phillies do it again on Wednesday night at 7:05 p.m. Matt Harvey faces Cole Hamels.