Mets Game 15: Win Over Phillies
Mets 4 Phillies 2
Jose Reyes jumpstarted the Mets in the initial inning, leading off the game with a double and scoring — along with Ryan Church — on another double by MVP leader David Wright. From then on, the Mets never relinquished the lead.
In the seventh, Reyes ripped a two-run homer to put the Mets ahead 4-0, giving plenty of wiggle room to Scott Schoeneweis et al.
Once again, Oliver Perez was less than efficient with his pitches — throwing 108 in 5 2/3 innings — but allowed no runs and four hits, striking out seven and walking five. Willie Randolph may not be happy with his efficiency, but it’s hard to argue with nearly six shutout innings vs. the Phillies lineup in CBP.
The Phillies’ best chance to come back came in the eighth, as they loaded the bases against Joe Smith and Pedro Feliciano. They scored one on a bloop single off Aaron Heilman, but Heilman then struck out Geoff Jenkins and Jayson Werth to end the threat and the inning.
Notes
The top of the order — Jose Reyes, Ryan Church, and David Wright — went 6-for-12 with three runs scored and four RBI. Wright is 6-for-8 so far in this series.
Even though Aaron Heilman came up big and shut the door on the Phillies with the bases loaded and one out in the eighth, I’m not comfortable with the frequency with which he’s being used. He was throwing from a low arm angle — from fatigue — and from that release point Aaron does not have his sharp control. Yes, he got away with it this time, but he did not have his good command, and if you noticed he didn’t throw too many changeups. Good thing, because when he drops down to Joe Smithlike level, the changeup floats up in the zone, and is easy to hit. It looked like he was using either his splitfinger or possibly his slider instead.
Next Game
The final game of the series will be played at 8:05 pm on Sunday, with Mike Pelfrey going against Adam Eaton. The game will be broadcast on ESPN, so once again I suggest you put the TV on “mute”.