Game #21: Phillies 4, Mets 0

The very least you could say is that, at two hours thirty-five minutes, the pain was relatively quick.

The Mets had no answer for Kyle Kendrick, and the Phillies rode a big 6th inning to a 4-0 series-opening win.

The Bad Stuff:

(NYDailyNews.com)

• Coming off a series in which Philadelphia's big three of Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, and Cole Hamels all lost, it was Kyle Kendrick who needed to be a stopper. But no one expected him to stop New York to the tune of a complete-game, three-hit shutout. He gave up no extra-base hits, walked just one Met, and struck out five of them, turning in one of the finer starts of his career with 107 pitches.
• The Mets only got a single at-bat with RISP (they failed) and stranded the only four runners to get on base (clearly).
• In what was in the first half of the game a real pitcher's duel, Dillon Gee cruised to five quick shutout innings himself. Then in the 6th, the roof caved in: three consecutive singles by Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, and Michael Young provided the opening score, and Ryan Howard's three-run homer all but guaranteed a Philly triumph.

The Good Stuff:

• Ruben Tejada, David Wright, and Justin Turner were the only New Yorkers to manage hits off Kendrick on the night, while Ike Davis drew the walk.

Final Analysis:
Dillon Gee, while spectacular for his other 72 pitches, was undone by a horrendous stretch of 11 tosses to start the 6th, and his team paid for it in the W-L column, falling below .500 for the first time in 2013. For the sake of comparison, it took until late summer for the Mets to have a losing record in 2012. Hopes are fading faster for these Mets (some would say at least there's no chance for soul-crushing false hope), and if they consistently make guys like Kyle Kendrick look like any of his better peers in the Philly rotation, it has the makings of a very, very long summer.

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