12
2012
Those Damned Phillies… Just When You Thought They Were Out…
An article by 72MetsFan
The Mets lost again last night, succumbing to the Washington Nationals by a score of 5-3. One night after being mathematically eliminated form winning the NL East, they established a new franchise record for the longest home streak of scoring three or fewer runs per game. The last time the Mets scored more than three runs at home was over a month ago on August 12 in a 6-5 win against the Braves. They beat the old mark set by the 1967 Mets and duplicated in again 1979. This is officially and historically the worse one month home stretch ever for the Mets. Things have never been as bad as they are now. Never.
Meanwhile, about 80 miles south on I-95 the Philadelphia Phillies are making their move, and they are certainly not as dead as some made them out to be. They took a huge step Tuesday night by defeating the Miami Marlins 9-7 and improving their record to 71-71, the first time they have been .500 since June 4.
The Phillies are 14-4 since Aug. 22, which is the best record in baseball in that span. They are now just 4 1/2 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals for the second NL Wild Card spot.
Right before the trade deadline, Ruben Amaro Jr. unloaded outfielders Hunter Pence and fan favorite Shane Victorino in what looked like a shift into rebuild mode. Amaro denied those claims and said it was more like refocus mode. It sounded like GM-speak, but maybe it wasn’t.
There has been a real reversal of fortunes for the Phillies since that July 31 deadline, and since then they’ve managed to go 25-14 and picked up a full ten games in the Wild Card Standings.
In their last 30 games, Ryan Howard has 24 RBI’s – tops in the National League in that span. John Mayberry who became the beneficiary of all that extra playing time since Victorino and Pence were shipped off has batted .316/.387/.520 with five homers and 15 RBIs and runs scored. More importantly, Cliff Lee is back in business with a 2.08 ERA since Aug 1, Cole Hamels has been his usual ace-like self, and Kyle Kendrick has been the best of the bunch posting a 1.48 ERA in his last five starts.
The Phillies are gaining on everyone and they are coming fast.
Meanwhile back in our neck of the Metropolis, that goal the Mets had of finishing in third place or at .500 have dwindled away.
After their last road trip, they returned to Flushing spouting off about embracing the role of spoilers with the Braves and Nationals coming into town for a six-game homestand. They go into tonight’s game with the very real possibility of being swept for all six games – and looking incredibly bad fundamentally in the process. The Mets are now 2.5 games out of last place and they end the season with a three game series against the last place Marlins in a battle to avoid finishing in the basement.
I’m seeing comments like “awesome” after a loss because it may mean a higher draft pick. It totally sucks, ya know…
Will the Phillies grab that final wild card? Who knows, but right now they are the hottest team in baseball and as the old adage says, “It’s now how you start, it’s how you finish.”
About the Author: Drew Staley
On June 1, 2012 Johan Santana officially became my favorite current Met! I'm a Queens native who grew up in the shadows of Big Shea. I was a huge Ron Darling, Dave Magadan and John Olerud fan. Honored to be a part of such a great site for Mets fans. Ya Gotta Believe!
38 Comments + Add Comment
NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 25 | 18 | .581 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 21 | .523 | 2.5 |
| Phillies | 21 | 23 | .477 | 4.5 |
| Mets | 17 | 24 | .415 | 7.0 |
| Marlins | 12 | 32 | .273 | 13.5 |
Last updated: 05/19/2013
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Very sad and pathetic what’s going on with this franchise… and to make things worse, a team that was worst than us at pretty much everything, has by passed us like a jet, and not only they passed us, they’re only 4 games out of WC contention even though they had a semi fire sale in july… SMH
So perhaps instead of the Mets adding pieces they should have taken them away and we would be in the hunt as well? Of course their dominant pitching staff helps a lot.
Maybe if we had traded uh… Hairston, Murphy and Kirk and added absolutely nothing we too could be winners.
Can you ask your girl why the phillies will not make the playoffs please? She seems reluctant to answer….
hahaha – I’m ‘your girl’ now?
I’ve always thought you two would make a cute couple. When are the nuptials?
LOL…..Think I might be just old enough to be his older aunt.
Nice try but they Added Howard in July which is why they are winning again!
The whole reason they were in the basement at all was the loss of thier biggest bat!
‘Will the Phillies grab that final wild card?’
Not happening.
Why not SRT? Care to provide us with some insigjht as to why it will not happen???
Helloooooooooooooooo????/ Any day now SRT… you seem to always ask me for prove of your ******ness, yet, all i want is a simple answer about how you can predict the future…
Alex, I wish you would take a more positive outlook on things. Alderson said we’d be playing championship baseball in 2014. So let it be written. So let it be done. Only one more year until Moses parts the Red Sea and the Mets will cross over into the Promised Land.
They crossed the Jordan to get into the promised land. Just saying.
Oops, sorry. It’s been a while since I read the Torah.
Read it 3 times and you get one heck of a classic movie!
Depending on your account as to Moses parting the Red Sea which in actuality wasn’t the Red Sea but a local river, but still a feat to say the least
It was actually sea of Reed which isn’t really a river either…Part of the Nile Delta so basically swamp!
Again, depending on your interpretation. I have always read it was a branch off of the Nile River. Oh well, moving water by raising a staff is still a feat… LOL.
Well a delta is basically a bunch of little branches off the nile river…
If you ever get a chance to see a TV show called BC Battles they have a great episode on the crossing by Moses told from a Strategic Military POV.
Best rational explanation yet I have seen of what happened.
Surely better than the Wind Blown and meteor impact theories that are out there.
One of the great debates among theologians has always been what was the greater miracles; parting a body of water or walking on it? The debate still wages on today.
Well I would say the greater miracle was getting people to believe both those things happened! LOL
Blasphemer!
Yep I’m probably going to hell for that but most of my friends are there so at least I’ll have plenty of company! LOL
Take a deep breath, Alex.
Just my opinion. I just don’t see those teams above them tanking and the Phillies leap frogging over all of them. Would be different if they were right behind just one team.
Well, they leap frog 8 teams already… So…. just saying. Only losers give up halfway into the season. but since SA falls into that category, we should use other word because we do not want to insult sandy alderson, if we do we hate the guy…
Guess we’re going to have to wait and see who is right on this.
Phillies have had a nice little run here these past 2 weeks. They’ll have to play nearly .700 ball, along with teams in front of them playing under .500 – to make it in.
Beating the Mets and Astros aren’t going to do them any good if the teams in front of them for the WC are also winning.
Right, when the Phillies were struggling offensively and traded away two of their bats at the deadline it had everything to do with going for it…
Did thier GM go on Television to say this team has no chance and he was just going to wait till next year?
I doubt it!
Sure he made some moves because those guys were not a major part of thier winning even when they were on top of the heap!
They got back thier big back which they lost for half a season and that loss cost them to fall to the cellar. Once he came back they climbed right back into the race didn’t they?
The only reason for a team above them t ave to tank to get past them is if they have no more games against them.
But one series vs a team ahead of you can put you 3 games up if you merely sweep them.
This is what you guys who think how many teams are ahead of you matters have forgotten to take into account.
Just beat the teams ahead of you and win when you play and you can overtake them in head to head matchup and make the biggest gain on them!
Saw that Phillies game last night and they look like world beaters. They are the antithesis of the New York Yankees who are on the verge of collapse. Basically the Phillies are playing up to the level all the experts predicted before this season. So are the Mets.
The only satisfaction I had for most of this season was that we were still better than the Phillies. Unfortunately that ship has sailed. Thanks Collins, thanks Wright. Hey, lets extend both of them.
They are getting huge production from catching spot. Carlos Ruiz batting .340, 14 HR, 60 RBI, and then Erik Kratz .260, 8 HR, 24 RBI. When you get that from your catching, it makes up for a lot of things everywhere else.
It would suck to see the Phils beat out the cardinals for a playoff spot. They traded Pence & Victorino but anyone would know that as long as they had the 3 starters they did in Halladay, Lee & Hamels they would never be in in rebuild mode and would still be a threat. It seems they have found some arms to help Papelbon out in the pen during this run as well. Rooting for the Cardinals to step it up and not allow the Phillies to beat them out.
Phillies got 20 games left including 3 with the Mets, 4 with the Astros and 4 with the Marlins.
9-2 it’s very possible given the way they’re playing combined with the way the astros and the mets are playing,..
The phillies still have the best starting rotation in baseball…they will make some noise if they make it to the playoffs.
I’m the original Mitch here buddy. lol
But I dont consider the Phillies to have the best starting rotation in baseball. What about Washington, San Fran, Atlanta, Dodgers, even Oakland?
Funny thing is their resurgence has been lead by Kendrick. Who the heck would have thunk that one?
Its an attitude, the Phillies have it and the Mets do not. Phillies will fight and play the game hard and the Mets have shown over the last 5 years when the tough gets going, the Mets pack it in. I am fed up, this starts with the idiot in the owners box and seeps its way down to the clubhouse. If you want the Mets to be successful again the Wilpons have to go.