A day after Mets general manager Sandy Alderson sold off more merchandise, the remaining roster pummeled the Philadelphia Phillies behind the dominant arm of Jacob deGrom.
With Jay Bruce shipped off to playoff pastures, Wilmer Flores, Neil Walker, Michael Conforto and Curtis Granderson stepped up to the plate crushing a series of pitches out of the stadium proving there is still some pep left to this downtrodden team.
“I don’t know what it is,” Collins said. “We come here a lot. It’s a great place to hit. It’s a great ballpark to play in. Our guys are comfortable here.”
DeGrom was in vintage form, 6 2/3 innings of no runs on four hits, striking out nine without walking a batter. On his 100th pitch, which would be his last, he was struck by a sharp line drive on his throwing arm as he followed through.
In a season filled with an abundance of bad luck, Terry Collins dodged a bullet with the news that the result of deGrom’s “injury” is a contusion on his right tricep, which won’t keep him out of commission.
It would have been par for the course to lose the lone productive starter in a paper-thin rotation, so maybe somebody up there likes the Mets after all.
The Mets had a lot on their side Thursday night with Wilmer Flores (3 for 4), giving New York a first inning three-run lead on a blast to center field, followed by Neil Walker’s solo shot two innings later. Walker (4 for 5) could be another casualty of salary dumping which at this point is too depressing to think about as the return of Alderson’s trades have been less than zero.
Michael Conforto, one of the crowned jewels for the future, filling in the vacant No. 4 spot left by Bruce, crushed the Phillies hope of a comeback with a three-run shot of his own to extend the lead to seven in the seventh. “I feel like it’s all the same to me — leadoff, two, three, four,” Conforto said. “I definitely want to be at the top, but it doesn’t really matter to me [exactly where].”
Then Curtis Granderson, just for sheer humiliation, homered in the ninth to cap off the double-digit defeat.
New York’s bullpen was brilliant in deGrom’s early exit with Erik Goeddel and Paul Sewald tossing a combined 2 1/3 innings of no hit, four strikeout ball.
Friday the Mets debut first base prospect Dominic Smith when they return to face the Phillies at Citizen Bank Park for a 7:05 p.m. start. Expect to see more of Collins Abbott and Costello routine of who’s on first, second and third as he tries to placate his overcrowded infield.
