MLB
Sunday, May 2
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Sunday Night Baseball: Mets at Phillies
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New York Mets at Philadelphia Phillies (+125, 9)
Shocker: Another visit by a New York team to ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball.” But after going 12-4 since Tax Day, the Mets truly deserve to be featured nationally.
The Mets cruised to a 9-1 victory on Friday but the Phillies returned the favor Saturday with a 10-0 shallacking. Make no mistake, this is a heated rivalry.
"No matter what, anytime we play the Phillies, I think it means something," pitcher Mike Pelfrey said. "No matter who we're playing, we want to go out there and win. The fans will be into it."
Red-hot Metropolitans
New York entered this series with a half-game lead over the Phils in the NL East thanks to a seven-game winning streak – a streak that just so happened to start on Sunday night baseball a week ago against Atlanta.
The Mets just had a historic homestand by going 9-1. According to the team’s website, only twice in team history -- in 1969 and '88 -- have the Mets fared so well at home (they made the playoffs both of those years).
During that 10-game run, New York outscored its opposition a whopping 48-23 and swept both the Braves and Dodgers. Over the homestand, the Mets had a 2.09 ERA in 86 innings with three shutouts. The bullpen has a 2.45 ERA this season.
Hitting-wise, young first baseman Ike Davis has been a revelation, batting .306 with six RBIs in his first 12 major league games. And the offense took off when manager Jerry Manuel moved Jose Reyes to third in the lineup and dropped David Wright to No. 5 to help protect Jason Bay.
Remember that this team lost its first four series of the season for the first time since 1997. Every member of the team seems to point to better fundamentals as the key to the success.
“The thing we hope to do is to remain solid . . . because there are going to be periods where you’re not going to hit,” Manuel told reporters. “If fielding, baserunning, those types of things, if you can bring those things every day, I think it gives you a pretty good chance to win.”
Phils’ bullpen gets a boost
Philadelphia’s bullpen has not been a huge strength so far, especially fill-in closer Ryan Madson.
Madson gave up a run on two hits against the Giants on Wednesday afternoon while suffering his second blown save of the season. Entering the weekend he was 1-0 with four saves but had an ERA of 7.00. He has six blown saves in his last 20 opportunities as interim closer (dating to the start of 2009).
After Madson blew Wednesday’s game, he stormed through the dugout and kicked over a chair. The temper tantrum caused him to break his right big toe and forced the Phillies placed him on the 15-day disabled list.
Fortunately for Philly, Brad Lidge was activated on Friday. He had been on the DL since March 26 after recovering from offseason surgery on his right elbow.
Lidge had a 5.19 ERA in his minor-league rehab but threw seven scoreless innings over his final six outings.
Will the Phils get the 2008 unhittable Lidge or the guy who had a 7.21 ERA and blew 11 of his 42 save chances in 2009? The answer to that will probably determine if the Phillies will need to make a trade.
Ryno dehorned
Ryan Howard hasn’t earned a penny of his five-year, $125 million contract extension since the ink dried Monday.
The Phils first baseman is 5-for-19 in five games with just one homerun and one RBI to go along with seven strikeouts. Howard is hitting for a decent average this season (.275), but has totaled almost as many strikeouts (21) as hits (27).
The Philadelphia front office has received a plethora of criticism since penning Howard to the long-term deal. Critics ask how in the world is Howard worth more than Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols?
"The sabermetricians are welcome to have their opinions about our business,” Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. “However, I choose to ignore their opinions."
On the bump
The Mets start co-ace Johan Santana tonight – you have to say co-ace now with how good Mike Pelfrey has been.
Santana (3-1, 2.08) held the Dodgers scoreless for six innings Tuesday, allowing four hits and striking out six. He has not allowed a home run over his past three starts and he has a 20:4 strikeouts to walks ratio in those 19.1 innings. Over the past three seasons, Santana is 4-1 with a 2.98 ERA against the Phillies, holding them to a .195 batting average.
He’ll want to keep the Howard in the park as Philly is 4-0 entering the weekend when the big lefty hits a home run, and the team went 26-13 under those circumstances last season. Howard and Chase Utley have hit three home runs each against Santana and Raul Ibanez is batting .350 in 40 career at-bats against him.
Philadelphia counters with 76-year-old Jamie Moyer. Okay, he’s only 47 but is the majors’ oldest player by far.
Moyer (2-2, 5.25 ERA) wasn’t very good last time out, allowing a season-high 10 hits and four runs in six innings against the Giants. He is 4-3 with a 4.45 ERA in the past three seasons against the Mets but has allowed 11 homers in 89 innings against them.
