Matt Harvey, without having his best stuff still had a quality start against the Phillies, thanks to some key offensive contributions from Lucas Duda

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Matt Harvey came out of the gate throwing his fastball often, and about as hard as Mets fans have seen in during this 2012 season. Harvey hit 99 MPH at least 5 times, and utilize that fastball for two strikeouts looking. Harvey’s final line would be six and one-third innings pitched, six hits, two runs allowed, two walks and six strikeouts. Harvey couldn’t consistently get his breaking ball to hit spots, but with gas like Harvey has sometimes it’s enough to get away with

The bullpen consisted of a four-man bridge, starting with a clean two-thirds of an inning by Josh Edgin, followed by another clean two-thirds of an inning from Robert Carson. Jon Rauch would come out for one-third, continuing his strong run in the bullpen since June. Frank Francisco came out for the ninth, and struck out two batters for his 22nd save of the season.

The bullpen has been good for the last week or so, and with reinforcements due in a few days, guys like Josh Edgin should be getting a little bit of a break and saved for high-leverage situations.

Offensively, the Mets struck early and had a lot of hits off of Phillies rookie starter Tyler Cloyd. Matt Harvey notched an RBI single in the first to put the Mets on the board. Lucas Duda put across two more on a long home run to right field in the third to put the Mets up for good. After the sixth however, the Mets hitters quieted down and only managed one hit and one walk in the next three innings.

Game Notes

Tejada, Murphy and Wright went 1 for 15 with four strikeouts. The struggle continues for David, and whether this is fatigue or just altering his swing is to be decided.

Scott Hairston played CF today with Andres Torres struggling, and went 1 for 3 with a walk, a strikeout and a hard-hit double. Hairston looks to be a valuable part of the 2013 Mets – for the right price.

Ike Davis was 2 for 4 with a run scored. Davis is hitting .228 on the season, which is a long way from July 3rd, which is the last time he was below .200.

Game Ball: Matt Harvey and Lucas Duda split the game ball for two solid performances. Lucas went 2 for 2 with a two-run homer, a stolen base and a good play in the outfield to save runs.

On Deck: The Mets finish the series with Philadelphia, sending Jonathon Niese to the mound against Kyle Kendrick. Game time is 1:10 P.M.