The New York Mets lost their second straight game to the Philadelphia Phillies by the score of 9-4 this afternoon at Citi Field. The loss drops them to 10-12 and they have lost eight of their last eleven games.

Shaun Marcum (0-1, 6.75) made his Mets debut and lasted just four innings, allowing three runs on five hits and two walks. He tossed 71 pitches, 44 for strikes, and was charged with a wild pitch. Marcum’s fastball never eclipsed 85 mph. He’ll need to do better than that next time out if the Mets are to make any noise the rest of this season.

The bullpen was called on to pitch five innings and first up was Robert Carson who was absolutely torched by the Phillies. The lefthander allowed five runs in the fifth inning including two home runs by Domonic Brown and John Mayberry. LaTroy Hawkins and Scott Rice each tossed a pair of scoreless innings. Rice has been very effective out of the pen for the Mets. But nevertheless, they now have worst bullpen in the majors with a 5.28 ERA.

Offensively, David Wright had two hits and an RBI, and catcher John Buck hit his eighth home run of the season in the ninth. He now has 23 RBI this season and only Mike Piazza and Ivan Rodriguez have had more in the month of April since 1920. Good company.

The other runs came on a sac fly by Ike Davis and Jordany Valdespin drove in the Mets’ first run with a double in the second.

The Mets have lost three in a row, and four of their last five games against the Phillies this season. They’ll look to salvage the final game of the series with Jon Niese going up against Cole Hamels at 1:10 PM on Sunday.

KEEP YOUR ENEMIES CLOSER!

Team News and Notes

Atlanta Braves (13-5)

After starting the season 12-1, the Braves have dropped four of their last five games, including three in a row to the Pittsburgh Pirates. On Monday, the Braves joined the Mets as the next team to have their games in Colorado postponed due to snow, and will play a doubleheader on Tuesday. Freddie Freeman returns to the lineup after missing time with an oblique injury. Jason Heyward was hitting just .121 before his appendectomy last night, and B.J. Upton is still batting .167. The pitching staff has three starters with ERA’s of 2.16 or lower starting with Kris Medlen, Paul Maholm at 1.03, and Mike Minor leads the club at 0.95. The Braves lead the majors in home runs with 29, mainly due to their new stud outfielder Justin Upton, who has nine. The Braves also lead the majors with a WHIP of 1.09 and a team ERA of 2.36.

Washington Nationals (10-9)

The Nationals promoted top prospect Anthony Rendon after learning that they would have to place Ryan Zimmerman on the DL. Stephen Strasburg‘s numbers look good, but he has a record of 1-3 to start the season, including being out-dueled by Matt Harvey on Friday night.  Gio Gonzalez has pitched poorly to start the year with a 5.85 ERA, while Ross Detwiler leads the team at 0.90. Bryce Harper continues to lead the charge offensively, leading the team in home runs with seven, and RBI with 14.

Philadelphia Phillies (9-11)

The Phillies continue to struggle as they remain under .500 after 20 games to start the season. Chase Utley is the only player producing right now, and he leads the team with three home runs and 15 RBI. Ryan Howard has struggled, and has just one home run in 18 games, while Michael Young has been a nice addition leading the team with a .333 batting average. On the mound, the Phils called up their fourth overall prospect, RHP Jonathan Pettibone, to replace the injured John Lannan in the rotation. After giving up 13 earned runs in his first two starts on the year, Cole Hamels has allowed just four earned runs over 13 innings in his last two starts. Roy Halladay appears to have gotten back on track, allowing just three earned runs in 17 innings over his last two outings.

Miami Marlins (4-15)

Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton returned to the Marlins lineup last Thursday after missing a week with a shoulder injury. He is just 4-for-18 since returning and remains homerless, but did get his first RBI of the season on Monday. Stanton is batting an unsightly .188/.316/.229 with no home runs, one RBI, two doubles, and has struck out 20 times in 38 at-bats. Jose Fernandez got his first real taste of the majors in his last start, when he lasted just four innings, giving up five runs on six hits, while walking three and striking out four. The Marlins offense continues to sputter, as they have just six home runs and only 41 RBI as a team, which are the lowest totals in the majors. Miami also had their game against the Minnesota Twins postponed Monday, and will play a doubleheader on Tuesday.

Injury Report

Nationals: Ryan Zimmerman was placed on the DL with a strain of his left hamstring. Wilson Ramos, who is also dealing with a strain of his left hamstring, is improving after being placed on the DL on April 14. He is expected to return when he is eligible to come off at the end of the month. Reliever Christian Garcia remains on the DL with partial tear in his forearm.

Braves: Jason Heyward is out indefinitely after having an appendectomy on Monday. Brian McCann (offseason shoulder surgery) remains on the DL, and the veteran backstop felt some tenderness in his wrist last week right before he was set to begin a rehab assignment. Jonny Venters (elbow) remains shut down for four weeks as of April 2, and may be out for the first two months. Brandon Beachy (Tommy John surgery) is still recovering and could return by midseason.

Phillies: Delmon Young (ankle) is progressing nicely and may be able to start a rehab stint as early as next week. His May return still remains on target. John Lannan was placed on the DL, could miss 6-8 weeks due to a strained quad.

Marlins:  Adeiny Hechavarria was placed on the DL with a bruised elbow, and should return in two weeks. Casey Kotchman who was placed on the DL, retroactive to April 4, with a strained hamstring is nearing his return. Logan Morrison is currently on the 60-day DL, as he recovers from a torn patella tendon that required surgery last September. Henderson Alvarez is throwing and could return by early May, while Nathan Eovaldi remains out indefinitely, and was transferred to the 60-day DL.

Upcoming Schedules (4/12-4/28) 

Nationals: (STL, 4/22-4/24), (CIN, 4/25-4/28)

Braves: (@COL, 4/22-4/24), (@DET, 4/26-4/28)

Phillies: (PIT, 4/22-4/25), (@NYM, 4/26-4/28)

Marlins: (@MIN, 4/22-4-23) (@CHC, 4/25-4/28)

Suspensions

Carlos Ruiz: The Phillies backstop is due to return from his 25-game amphetamine suspension this coming Sunday.

There are two no-brainers in place for the Mets with their latest injury news.

The first was the slam-dunk Shaun Marcum would be injured. The surprise was it happened before the team broke camp, but considering the shape he reported in, well, maybe not so much.

The second is the inevitable early clamor for the Mets to promote prospect Zack Wheeler, which should be an emphatic NO WAY.Manager Terry Collins told reporters today in Port St. Lucie, but he has a few more days to mull it over in his mind, especially throwing Johan Santana’s name on the soon-to-be-DL list.

“There’s a reason why we sent him out,’’ Collins said. “He needs to face hitters in Triple-A.’’

Although Wheeler was impressive in his first appearance since straining his oblique muscle, too much can’t be read into that because he wasn’t facing major league hitters.

The send-off the Mets gave Wheeler was to work on his command, especially lower in the strike zone and on the corners. That includes both his fastball and breaking pitches.

GM Sandy Alderson was adamant at the start of spring training of putting Wheeler, “in a chance where he has a chance to be successful,’’ but said he’s not there, yet.

Alderson wouldn’t identify a concrete timetable, and some of it pertains to the free agent and Super Two issues. Based on service time within the first 20 days of the regular season, Wheeler would become a free agent after the 2018 season instead to 2019, and be eligible for an extra year (four instead of three) in salary arbitration.

An example of a Super Two player is the Phillies Cole Hamels, but it should be remembered he was first played in that status in 2009, the year Philadelphia went to the World Series. At last check, the Mets haven’t been over .500 since that year.

People accuse the Mets of being cheap all the time, and that this is more of an accountant’s decision. However, Alderson said if there’s a need for a player such as Wheeler or catching prospect Travis d’Arnaud they would be promoted regardless.

If Marcum isn’t ready for the season – it seems doubtful he will make Thursday’s start – the Mets will likely place him on the disabled list. It would be foolish to wait to see if he’ll be ready for the season’s second start, or even worse to push him back in the rotation.

Under those scenarios, if Marcum pitched and was re-injured, he would go on the disabled list backdated to the time of that injury and be out two-weeks. If not, he would be backdated into spring training and miss time.

Marcum sustained a pinched nerve in his neck sustained throwing in the bullpen Monday. Marcum has only broken 200 innings once during his career, and only had 124 last year.

Thoughts from Joe D.

Mets fans are always clamoring for top prospects to quickly make their debut. If the prospect does come up and hits pay-dirt they all stand up and say, “See, I told you so.”

But if they flop, and most do, all the blame goes to the GM, “Why was he rushed?”

I’m with Terry Collins on this. Let Wheeler go dominate in Triple-A first, and then we’ll reevaluate the situation after that happens. We’ll cross that bridge once we get to it.

Do I expect Wheeler to do just that? Dominate in Triple-A? You bet I do… That’s why I drafted him in our MMO Fantasy League last night and stashed him on my bench.

Come closer to the screen so you can get a clear view of what I have to say. A little closer. Just a little more. Okay, here goes.

THE METS OWN COLE HAMELS!! 

Even Cole Hamels’ identical twin brother (see photo above) knows how well the Mets do against his sibling.

In a nationally televised FOX game, the entire country got to see the Jonathon Niese (who pitched seven strong innings) and the Mets pound Hamels, knocking the All-Star pitcher out of the game with one out in the fifth inning. Hamels tied his career-high by allowing seven runs (all earned) on eight hits. He also walked four batters while striking out three.

It was the first time Hamels allowed more than four earned runs in a game since April 5, when (you guessed it) the Mets scored six runs against him in 2.2 innings.

Prior to the game, Hamels was 11-4 with a 2.32 ERA and a National League-leading 0.93 WHIP. Notice my use of the word “was” in the last sentence. So how did the Mets do it against Cole Hamels today? They did it like so…

Scott Hairston doubled. Daniel Murphy singled. Jon Niese walked. Justin Turner singled. Scott Hairston doubled (again). Jason Bay walked. Nick Evans walked. Ruben Tejada singled. Angel Pagan hit a sacrifice fly. (Hey, Hamels finally got someone out!) Justin Turner walked. Daniel Murphy hit a 395-foot homer. Jason Bay singled. Nick Evans tripled.

After allowing the Mets’ Murderers Row to reach base against him 12 times, Charlie Manuel finally took Hamels out of the game, where he left to a chorus of boos (or were those Phillies fans saying “RAUUUUUUUUL” for Raul Ibañez? I couldn’t tell because I don’t speak “stupid”).

The change in pitchers made no difference to the Mets, as they scored four runs on seven hits off relievers David Herndon and Danys Baez, with the big blow coming off the bat of Scott Hairston. The rightfielder, who was only in the game because Carlos Beltran had a one thousand degree fever, (and that’s in Celsius!) launched a three-run bomb into the left field landing, a place usually reserved for home runs by opposing teams. The homer gave Hairston three extra-base hits on the day and a season-high five RBIs.

Raise your hands, raise your hands if you’re sure!  Scott Hairston was certainly sure, hitting a titanic three-run blast that “put it in the books” for the Mets.  (Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images)

So now you know how the Mets crushed the Phillies. Now you get to sit through the juicy parts, where I give you Cole Hamels’ numbers against teams that don’t have “Mets” on their jerseys, versus what he does against the boys in blue and orange. 

• Career W-L record vs. the Mets: 3-10
• Career W-L record vs. everyone else: 68-40

• Career ERA vs. the Mets: 4.69
• Career ERA vs. everyone else: 3.31

• Career WHIP vs. the Mets: 1.59
• Career WHIP vs. everyone else: 1.11

• This year vs. the Mets: 1-2, 9.64 ERA, 2.00 WHIP
• This year vs. everyone else: 10-3, 1.91 ERA, 0.87 WHIP

The Mets hit Cole Hamels well just about every time they face him. Whether it’s a lineup consisting of Ike Davis, David Wright, Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran, or a batting order that features none of them, the Mets usually find a way to make Cole Hamels eat his words.

Three years ago, Cole Hamels called the Mets choke artists. Now we know why he said it. After all, it takes one to know one.

But why I’m writing this is because you have to know this has been coming all season.  The Yankees led the majors in home runs with 244, while the Phillies led the National League with 224 (tying the Rangers for second place in MLB).  The Phillies only batted .258 while our Mets hit .270, but the Phils had the 224 homers and 788 RBI, while we had a paltry league low 95 homers and just 631 driven in.  The Yankees had CC Sabathia flat out dominate the American League all season, and even though AJ Burnett was not at his best, he was far better than anything we had at the #2 spot.  Heck, we limped home with three or four #4 guys.  The Phillies had all world Cliff Lee and then playoff tested Cole Hamels as the #2 starter, and lookie here…they got seven innings of two hit ball from none other than Pedro Martinez last Friday.

So a Yankees/Phillies series was inevitable if you look at it all that way.  The numbers don’t lie.  Even with guys like Jimmy Rollins not hitting the cover off the ball and shaky closer situation, the Phillies find a way to win, as they did in the ninth inning Monday night.  They’ve been doing that all year.  The Yankees, well, they just haven’t stopped winning since A-Rod came back in May.

I guess we’re going to have to suck this one up, because you can’t deny how talented these two teams are, and the fact that if they do reach the Fall Classic, they truly deserve to be there.  So let’s try to enjoy it for what it is, two teams we hate beating up on each other.

But of course, the Mets never make things easy.  Four straight wins later, two against a team they are chasing for the wild card, Colorado, and there is an air of optimism again.  We’re still 5.5 games behind Colorado and San Francisco, with Florida, Atlanta, Chicago, Houston and Milwaukee all there to climb over.  But this thing is far from over, and who knows what the likes of Roy Halladay could do for this team?  Heck, if the Mets did somehow manage to win the wild card, they would have to have a guy like Halladay to pair with Johan Santana in a short series with the Phillies, who now have Cliff Lee behind Cole Hamels.  But it’s hard to imagine the Mets even having the goods on the farm to land a Halladay. 

So what does Omar do now?  As crazy as this sounds, the games tonight and tomorrow afternoon are probably going to determine if something happens before Friday’s trade deadline.  Lose both games, and we might be selling.  Win both and we could be buyers.  Split the games and it could go either way. 

What do you all think?

One pitch after giving up a two-run homer to Ryan Braun in the fourth inning, Prince Fielder laced an infield single that hit Hamels in the front of his left shoulder.

Trainers immediately tended to Hamels, who left the game with what the team called a left shoulder contusion.

He was replaced by J.A. Happ.

Hamels was the MVP of the 2008 NL Championship Series and World Series, but is off to a rough start this season. He had an 11.17 ERA through his first two starts.

He had cruised through the first three innings Thursday, striking out six of the nine batters he faced.

NL Biggest Bust

Rob – Pamela Anderson…. oh, wait, that’s a different kind of big bust. I’ll go with Manny Ramirez

Sach – Aaron Harang, Cincinnati Reds

Joe D – The Phillies bullpen and rotation is rocked by injuries and ineffectiveness and keeps the Phillies out of the post season.

Mikey J – Francisco Rodriguez, NY Mets

Ryan – Aramis Ramirez, Chicago Cubs

Paul – Cole Hamels, Philadelphia Phillies

Joey M – Raul Ibanez, Philadelphia Phillies

Jessica – The Cubs…

Matt – Philadelphia Phillies

Kelly – Jimmy Rollins, Philadelphia Phillies

AL Biggest Bust

Rob – AJ Burnett, NY Yankees

Sach – Jarrod Washburn, Seattle Mariners

Joe D – A-Rod returns, but fails to above .280 for the first time since 1995, and will struggle to knock in 75 RBI’s.

Mikey J – CC Sabathia, NY Yankees

Ryan – Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins

Paul – AJ Burnett, NY Yankees

Joey M – Mark Teixeira, NY Yankees

Jessica – If the Yankees don’t win division it will be considered a bust. Go Rays!

Matt – Los Angeles Angels

Kelly – CC Sabathia, NY Yankees

NL Biggest Surprise

Rob – Garret Anderson has a huge year in Atlanta

Sach – Matt Lindstrom of the Marlins will have more saves than Brad Lidge, but Jose Valverde will lead the NL in saves for the 3rd consecutive year.

Joe D – Hanson, Vasquez and a rejuvenated Francoeur lead Braves to a Wild Card.

Mikey J – Fred Lewis, San Francisco Giants

Ryan – Mike Pelfrey, NY Mets

Paul – Fred Lewis, SF Giants

Joey M – Daniel Murphy, NY Mets

Jessica – The Reds will rebound nicely this year.

Matt – Florida Marlins

Kelly – Daniel Murphy, NY Mets

AL Biggest Surprise

Rob – The Yankees fail to make the post-season again, and the Royals are in a pennant race thru early September.

Sach – The Angels sign Ben Sheets in July, and finally get out of the first round.

Joe D – Despite off-season improvements from the Yankees and Red Sox, the Rays win the AL East division.

Mikey J – Manny Parra, Milwaukee Brewers

Ryan – Alex Rios, Toronto Blue Jays

Paul – Russell Branyan, Seattle Mariners

Jessica – Texas Rangers

Matt – Kansas City Royals

Kelly – Nomar Garciaparra, Oakland A’s