But so far, the Mets aren’t allowing their season to be spoiled. Oh, and they’re 11-1 against the Phillies this season. “We want to beat them. We have to salvage a game out of this”.
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This is one punching bag the Mets can’t pummel enough. There was plenty of opportunity for them to mangle their loud vowels.
But apart from the constant production of winning baseball from the Mets’ hitters, there was Colon, all 265 pounds of him, from which to gain strength. Basically, when he kept the ball down he had success; when he elevated his pitches he got hurt.
Colon just cruised, while Eickhoff, the initial shock absorbed, managed to settle in. Niese improved to 10-6 in his career versus Philadelphia after yielding just three runs in 13 1/3 innings to post wins on April 15 and May 9, respectively.Harang deserved a better fate on Sunday after allowing just two runs on as many hits in seven innings of a no-decision against Miami.
Of course, he did that while working with the lead.
Long removed from their run of five straight NL East titles, the Phillies are rebuilding and trying to avoid last place for the second straight year, but may have too many games remaining against the Mets to have a chance. Like the way Colon pitches, they came right at the Phillies (50-77) from the plate.
Yeonis Cespedes had an RBI triple in a three-run ninth for New York. Michael Cuddyer, nearly overshadowed in this power-packed lineup, followed with a run-scoring double, then Wilmer Flores and Michael Conforto followed with singles as Cuddyer scored a third Mets run.
The Mets capitalized by batting around and collecting three runs on four hits. The 37-year-old didn’t permit a homer in that contest, but has been taken deep 14 times in his previous 12 games – during which he has limped to a 1-11 mark.
“I had a little trouble getting settled”, Eickhoff said. “Balls were catching more of the plate”. Juan Uribe drove him in with a single for a 4-0 lead.
The dark cloud was four runs allowed by the Mets bullpen in the eighth, with Eric O’Flaherty and Carlos Torres responsible for most of the damage.
As for the Phillies, they waited until Colon was well out of the picture before daring to threaten.
Cameron Rupp had a two-run double in the eighth and Jeff Francoeur a pinch-hit RBI single. “He really turned himself around and pitched well through the sixth inning”.
With two outs and the tying run on base, reliever Tyler Clippard struck out second baseman Darnell Sweeney to quell the threat.
Sweeney’s strikeout left it as a Phillies four-spot in the eighth inning.
“I’m happy that he came out of it”, Mackanin said. “We were kind of listless the whole game”.
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The saving grace for struggling Mets starter Bartolo Colon this season has been the team’s desire to use an expanded rotation to limit the innings of their younger pitchers.
