Game #71: Phillies 8, Mets 7

New York didn't have much time to celebrate their comeback. The quest to keep the game tied ended two pitches after it started.

The Mets mounted a furious six-run comeback but were thwarted in the bottom of the 9th by a Kevin Frandsen walk-off home run as the Phillies evened the series 8-7.

The Bad Stuff:

• Dillon Gee got taken off the hook for what should have been an L, as he allowed six runs (five earned) on eight hits in five innings.
• Carlos Torres was the man who served up Frandsen's late-game heroics: it was a 1-0 fastball that Kevin sent into the left field stands of Citizens Bank Park.

The Good Stuff:

• After falling behind 7-1, the Mets did not shrivel up and die for the final three innings, scoring four runs in the top of the 7th and two in the 9th.
• Runs in the 7th came in on an Omar Quintanilla single, Eric Young two-run double, and Jordany Valdespin groundout.
• In the 9th, Valdespin once again got the best of Jonathan Papelbon with a solo home run that made it 7-5. David Wright then reached on an error and after Marlon Byrd's flyout, he came home all the way from first on Daniel Murphy's single.
• Before Torres, the New York bullpen did a solid job of keeping things close, as the only run that came in was an unearned tick on Greg Burke's watch. Josh Edgin, Scott Rice, and David Aardsma kept Philly from widening the gap in the 7th and 8th.

Final Analysis:
Folks who look at the final score will see a NYM loss, but fans of the team should be proud that the boys stuck in there. When a struggling team falls behind they tend to throw in the towel, but for today at least, the Mets had a little fight in them, losing in a fashion similar to the end of Rocky.

MM

Game #9: Phillies 7, Mets 3

The power was surging, but the lines were bringing it directly to the wrong place.

Three solo home runs between John Buck and Lucas Duda failed to make up for Jeremy Hefner's rough outing as the Mets dropped the series to the Phillies, 7-3.

The Bad Stuff:

(NYDailyNews.com)

• The last time Jeremy Hefner faced Philadelphia, he failed to get a single out. This time he didn't fare much better, letting the first six guys get on base (Ben Revere was caught stealing second) and allowing five earned runs before getting an out himself. Like Dillon Gee the night before him, Hef was gone after the 3rd inning.
• The New York offense couldn't do nearly enough against Kyle Kendrick, whose only damage came on two solo home runs spread over six innings. The 2-4 guys in the order (Daniel Murphy, David Wright, Ike Davis) combined to go 0-11 with a walk and four strikeouts.
• Lance Nix victimized New York's LaTroy Hawkins in the 6th inning with a two-run homer, his first of the season.

The Good Stuff:

• John Buck's hot start has gone on for so long I've run out of hyperbole for it. Buck launched another home run, a solo bomb of Kendrick in the 2nd inning, to give him five for the season and equaling last year's power numbers of every other Mets catcher combined. It also gave New York its longest home run streak to start the season in franchise history: never before have the Mets hit home runs in each of their first nine games.
• Lucas Duda braved the wind and the deficit by launching two home runs of his own, the first one going so high and so far that it left not only Citizens Bank Park but also both Veterans Stadium and Shibe Park. Imagine their surprise...
• The Mets managed to outhit the Phillies 11-10, with Jordany Valdespin, Mike Baxter, and Ruben Tejada each picking up multi-hit games.

Final Analysis:
Think a three-man rotation would work? Jeremy Hefner is not a starter; he belongs in the bullpen as the long man, as he was kept on the team to do. Unfortunately for him the injuries to Shaun Marcum and Johan Santana have forced him and Aaron Laffey into this position, and they, as well as we, will have to put up with it until Marcum comes back and Zack Wheeler gets his promotion. Until then, the mantra Mets fans will be singing goes like this: "Harvey and Niese and Gee, wouldn't rain be cheque?"

Tough to lose the series to the Phillies but the Mets are still 5-4 and are going to the last-place caliber Minnesota Twins for the weekend. That is, if they don't get snowed in.

MM