Game #50: Phillies 6, Mets 4

Michael Martinez came home on a sacrifice fly, beating the tag by Ronny Paulino in the ninth to give the Phillies a 5-3 lead. (NYTimes.com)

Fransisco Rodriguez walked a tightrope more often than Mets fans would like. Tonight against the Phillies, the tightrope snapped.

Philadelphia scored four runs in the last 2 innings to spoil a brilliant outing by Chris Capuano and dealing the Mets the 6-4 loss, their 5th in 6 games.

The Bad Stuff:

• The recently rock-solid New York bullpen reverted back to its ugly April stage. In the top of the 8th, Jason Isringhausen "earned" his first blown save of the season when Jimmy Rollins doubled to score one and tie the game at 3. Then in the 9th, K-Rod's flawless W-L record and scoreless innings streak came to a crashing end in the form of 3 runs on 5 singles and a sac fly.
• The Amazin's managed to put another one on the board in the bottom of the 9th, but with runners on the corners and one out, Daniel Murphy grounded into the 4-6-3 double play. Game over. Mets lose. Oy vey.

The Good Stuff:

• The bullpen's collapse wipes out a very effective start from Chris Capuano. The starter managed 6 effective innings, limiting the Philly offense to 1 earned run (2 total) on 4 hits, walking just 1 and striking out 8. Hindsight is 20/20, but with just 78 pitches through those 6 innings, it would have been the smarter move for Terry Collins to leave Capuano in the game instead of pinch hitting for him with Willie Harris, who weakly grounded out to first.
• Despite just 4 runs, the Met offense tagged the Philly staff for 14 hits, including 9 off Roy Oswalt. Biggest standouts were Jose Reyes (2-5 with 3 runs), Justin Turner (4-5 with an RBI), Carlos Beltran (2-5 with an RBI), and Ronny Paulino (2-4 with an RBI).
• The other biggest story of the day was the return of Angel Pagan. The center fielder came back form an oblique injury and went 2-4, scored a run, and stole a base. Impossible to know from just one game whether we'll see last year's Pagan (led the team in hitting) or April's Pagan (.159 BA). But it's a good sign if he can have a solid return against a pitcher as good as Roy Oswalt.

Final Analysis:
You see so much Good Stuff and figure we should have won. Well, you'd be right. This is one that got away

While the game is lost, the series is not. Yes, it will be quite a task to beat the best team in the NL two nights in a row, and face Cole Hamels tomorrow, but the good news is we won't have to face either Roy Halladay or Cliff Lee. Impossible to avoid good pitching against the Phillies, better to face the two aces instead of the two super-aces. That's not making me feel better, Midwestern Met. I know, random italic questioner. I know.

MM