The Mets (51-56) were shutout by the Phillies (47-60) on Tuesday night, losing 6-0 at Citi Field.
Dillon Gee got the start for the Mets and was pretty solid, but his final line won’t reflect that. Dillon was charged with 5 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks in 6.2 innings in which he struck out 2 batters and threw 102 pitches.
Cole Hamels was, for a change, very good against the Mets in this game. Cole tossed 8 shutout innings and retired the final 13 men he faced. In fact, Hamels now has 2 solid outings against us this year.
Gee was cruising through the first few innings and got 2 strikes on Jimmy Rollins with 2 outs in the top of the 3rd, but then left one out over the plate and Rollins lined it into the Mo’s Zone to give the Phillies a 1-0 lead. Dillon again got 2 strikes with 2 outs in the top of the 4th, but surrendered another solo shot to the mangled remains of what used to be Grady Sizemore.
Gee got out of a jam in the 5th and breezed through the 6th, but the doors came off in the top of the 7th. Domonic Brown hit a leadoff single and, after Cody Asche flew out, advanced to 2nd on a sacrifice bunt from Hamels. With 2 strikes and 2 outs on the light-hitting Ben Revere, Gee ran a pitch a bit too far inside and nicked the Philadelphia leadoff man on the uniform, putting runners on 1st and 2nd. A miscommunication between Dillon and Travis d’Arnaud led to a wild pitch, moving the runners to 2nd and 3rd. Gee feel behind 2-0 before getting a curve over for a strike to make it 2-1. Dillon appeared to get another curve over, but home plate umpire Jordan Baker squeezed him and the count moved to 3-1. With an open base, Gee wasn’t going to take any chances, and he threw a junky pitch to Rollins to put him on first and go after Chase Utley with the bases loaded and 2 outs.
Terry Collins, however, had other plans. Terry pulled Gee to bring in lefty Josh Edgin to face Utley with the game on the line. Once again, a Met pitcher got 2 strikes on a Philadelphia hitter with 2 outs. But after Utley fouled off a couple pitches, the All-Star 2nd baseman launched one into the Pepsi Porch for a grand slam, blowing the game wide open.
The Mets scattered some early singles against Hamels and even got a double from David Wright, but they could never get a hit at the right time and were unable to break through against the lefty. Ken Giles came in to put the final touches on Philadelphia’s victory and finish off a game in which the Mets never really got started.
NEW RULE PROPOSAL: Once there are 2 outs, you only need 2 strikes for a strikeout. Anybody?
I’ve always underrated Cole Hamels, because I basically only see him when he faces the Mets, and we usually rock him. But he was dominant tonight, and I can see why he’s considered one of the best pitchers in baseball.
Josh Edgin, you quite literally have ONE job: Get the lefties. You have to get the out there against Utley. But that didn’t happen tonight, not that it would have necessarily made a difference, the way Hamels mowed through our lineup. That being said, Gee should have finished that inning off before Utley came up. You can’t hit a guy like Ben Revere with 2 outs and 2 strikes.
3 of the 4 runs that scored on Utley’s grand slam were charged to Gee, turning what could have been a 7 inning, 2 run showing into a 6.2 inning, 5 run mess. Still, Gee was much better tonight than he was in his previous 2 starts out of the break, so hopefully he’s finding his groove again after a lot of missed time.
Terry Collins will get blasted for pulling Gee, but that’s largely due to the fact that the guy who came in to replace him surrendered a grand slam. Hindsight is 20-20. I’m not sure it was such a bad move at the time. Edgin has been good against the lefties this year, and Gee was stumbling a bit. Gee also tends to tire more quickly than most pitchers, and hadn’t thrown more than 100 pitches in over 2 months. So maybe pulling Dillon after 102 pitches was the right move. But Gee had been having a solid night in general, and you can make the argument that Terry should have let him try to finish the inning off.
Home plate umpire Jordan Baker was lousy tonight. He’s not the reason that we lost, but he was incredibly inconsistent and looked unconfident when making his calls. Come to think of it, his lack of confidence in his own umpiring probably means he is self-aware…
Eric Campbell had 2 hits tonight. Duda has been raking and should definitely stay in the lineup, but Terry should try to get Soup some at-bats whenever he can.
We’ve been hitting well at home lately, but the bats were silent tonight. Hopefully they can get it going early in the afternoon tomorrow and take the rubber game.
Up Next: The Mets will look to secure a series win over the Phillies on Wednesday afternoon in a weekday matinee at Citi Field. Zack Wheeler (5-8, 3.64 ERA) will face Kyle Kendrick (5-10, 4.87 ERA) at 12:10 PM.
