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The first-place Mets (9–6) defeated the Phillies (8–9) by the score of 6 to 4 in Citizen’s Bank Park.
For a recap and boxscore, go to SNY.tv.
…it’s funny, because after Thursday’s night 14–inning game, i remember thinking, ‘Man, after that, Johan Santana is going to have to throw at least seven or eight innings on Friday,’ and sure enough, he pitched seven innings, allowed three runs, four hits, no walks and struck out 10…actually, he looked far more dominant than that line suggests…Aaron Heilman let up a home run, not santana, but the runs were charged to johan…
…ugh, heilman…he’s just so streaky…it’s like he goes through these phases, during which his change up is weak, he looks dejected, and lets up home run after home run…then, i’ll blink, and he’ll be untouchable and i’ll think, ‘Wow, this guy could be the next closer,’ and before i can finish that thought, he lets up another home run…which is ok, i guess, but it’s not ok in the bullpen, where stability is so important…
…aaron, again, must thank Pedro Feliciano and Billy Wagner for cleaning up his mess…
…David Wright looks like an MVP…in every way, shape and form…tonight, he was 4 for 4 with a double, triple and two RBI, while looking like he was in a playoff game…intense…
…did Phillies fans actually boo Jose Reyes, after he banged his head on Eric Bruntlett during a slide in to second, and had been down and out for a few minutes…unreal…savages…
…hat’s off to Ryan Church, who i feared may have develop a complex from fans and reporters who did so much worrying and talking about him in the spring…however, he looks totally comfortable and in control…defensively and offensively…
…best part of the game to me, beside santana’s 10 strike outs, and Cole Hamels looking like he wanted to cry, was how the team piled on insurance runs in the eighth – this is what i was most concerned about earlier in the season, and in the last few days the team seems to have it’s foot pressed hard on the gas pedal…all game long…and it’s about time…
The Mets face the Phillies on Saturday, as Oliver Perez takes on Jamie Moyer, starting at 4 pm.
Did I miss it? Everyone and their mother is reporting bruntlett’s knee to Jose’s head. I saw utley.
Matt, while booing reyes while he’s down is lame lets not forget how many metsfans jeered and chanted while milledge was down at shea. right now, metfan sadly has no room to talk about class.
There’s a difference between chanting “Milledge s*cks” after he gets hit by a pitch and the Philly fans’ reaction to Reyes’ getting back up.
Well thats not true, Santana DID give up a HR to Utley I think it was in 7th to make the score 2-1. It seems to me that when Santana and Heilman pitch you better have at least a 4 run lead because there will be HRs given up. Santana has given up a HR in every start and we all know about Heilman. I did question Willie when he put him in with 2 men on and a 4 run lead and them WHACK it was a 1 run lead. Why not use Sanchez in that spot? We did win, but, it was closer than it had to be. Use Heilman when a HR or 2 wont hurt us. Oh,well. We won and Florida lost so we are in first place. Lets sweep them and stay in first :} LETS GO METS !!!!
why not use sanchez? if i had to guess, 99% because he pitched 2 2/3 innings in the last 2 nights…
Well, if Aaron can’t protect a one-run lead then what good is he? Look, it’s still way too early to project that Heilman won’t have a good season or won’t be able to right the ship. He should be fine. I’m more impressed with Santana and his utter dominance last night. He totally shut the Phils down.
Games like last night, on the road against the reigning NL East Champs, are why we signed him and why I simply don’t worry every 5th day when he takes the mound.
Don’t fool yourself, Matt. There are plenty of idiot Met fans who would have booed Jimmy Rollins if he had almost knocked himself out on Castillo’s or Reyes’ knee. These are the same fans who boo Carlos Beltran for grounding into a double play. Or Scott Schoenweis for entering the game. It only seems like the Phillies have more of this type of fan because we’re Mets fans. But if I had to guess, I’d say it’s probably pretty close.
amazing how people continue to want to bash willie.
if heilman can’t even protect a four run lead, what good is he? at some point, the player has to accomplish his role, guys. the mets were up by four runs! a night like this is case in point why heilman is the most overrated met on this team. i realise i may be speaking in hyperbole right now but it’s uncanny how you can count on him to give the opposition insurance runs and give up a crushing homerun.
the fortuitous part is tonight, he mets pulled themselves and scored another run.
i hate heilman.
heilman seems fine unless it’s the braves or the phillies, then you’re almost guaranteed a homer. The rest of the league he shuts down. It’s really frustrating!
Check his career splits.
He stinks up April, but dominates September.
His ERA+ the last 3 years of 130, 120, 140, his WARP the last 3 years of 3.3, 2.6, 3.7 and his VORP the last 3 years of 25.9, 20.6, 19.4 suggest quite strongly that Heilman is not overvalued – he’s correctly valued.
I spent about 5 minutes cursing out Heilman at the bar after he gave up that homer. And then I saw a slo-mo of the pitch. It was pretty decent. Then I stopped cursing.
Look its Philadelphia, where fly balls are home runs. Heilman is not a ground ball pitcher and neither is Sanchez. The right person to put in to pitch in that park is Joe Smith or Feliciano. It has nothing to do with confidence or prescribed roles. You just don’t put a fly ball pitcher in to pitch in that park if the game is on the line.
Agreed, and that home run was a routine out in essentially any other park in the majors.
But, let’s not dwell on the negative. A positive: Met pitchers: 0 walks. None. Zippo. Thanks, Johan. Met hitters, only five Ks, three of which were Santana.
Matt’s analysis is spot on, 100%: What’s most important was that the Mets didn’t fold up after yet another anonymous Phillie hit yet another cheap late inning home run to chip away at a Met lead. As Matt points out, the insurance runs were so refreshing to see.
The real test comes in September, if both teams are again in the hunt.
Didn’t anyone notice that the Mets are once again in 1st place?
And, just to prove that BB is a funny game (and players take time to develop), Pelfrey is 2-0 with an ERA below 2, and Phil Hughes on the Stankees is 0-3 with a snappy 8.82 ERA.
Yes it is early, but still nice to see!
We’re still in first!!!!!!!!!
I could have sworn I heard that statement before.
I was at the game, and yeah, this is how that Reyes play went down:
1) Reyes gets called safe, Phillies fans groan
2) Reyes is lying on the ground in clear pain, they start chearing
3) Reyes eventually stands up and everyone boos
4) Reyes takes some time to make sure he’s okay and the boos continue
5) Reyes puts his helmet back on and goes back to second, I and other Met fans stand up to chear him (as I’ve seen Met fans do so many other times for opposing players at Shea, and done myself) and I hear “sit down!” from somewhere behind me.
Also, on at least three separate occassions leaving the park I heard people yelling out a derogatory term for gay men at anyone wearing a Mets shirt.
Unbelievable.
Don’t worry — they all went home to South Jersey and Delaware, curled up with a Yuengling and a Bon Jovi “ballad” dripping out of their broken portable stereos, and wept themselves to sleep, staring wistfully at their vaguely homoerotic Chase Utley posters.
Eat it, D-bags. Another dose of medicine today.
….Bad Medicine
Lordy. . . .
Ha, Mets fans, funniest in baseball.
“Yo, Adrian!”
…now I feel bad for liking Yuengling.
I wish they had that ish in GA…
Are you sure they’re not the “Pat the Bat” posters… same as the T-shirts their team wore in ST this ytear?
BigBen, right on…I was there too. There were not the number of Met fans I am used to seeing, but it was dispersed all over the park. I’m sure today everyone will be coming down…..I walked all around the stadium throughout the game and I was in the upper deck in LF when Reyes went down…there was a ton of trash-talking throughout the game all around me.
A load of Santana jerseys, and even a FIGGY jersey….how cool! Saw a group of Met fans outside, and some Phillie fans yelling at the Santana guy, calling him a gay term and mocking him every which way.
I’m used to it though…I didn’t see any fights, but was sure I was going to on a couple of occasions.
I liked the wasy the Mets tacked on runs late….key points:
1. killer instinct
2. good plate discipline
3. great starting pitching
4. solid defense
Haha, I was in the upper deck in LF too: section 329. Had a Santana t-shirt on though, not a jersey. I didn’t get heckled all that much during the game, although a guy two rows in front of me got yelled at every time he stood up to applaud a Met run. Of course when the Phillies score runs it’s okay to stand during the rest of the inning, but if a Met fan stands in between batters he’s ruining it for everyone.
Did everyone forget how close the Phils came to tying the game after Dobb’s homer…Jenkins had Beltran pinned to the wall in deep center!
it’s a game of inches. Fact is, the ball was caught. And if Dobbs homer had only gone to the warning track, then Heilman wouldn’t be in the Metsblog doghouse today. Hypothetical baseball doesn’t count.
Hypothetically, if they played in Shea, Jenkins ball is caught well before the warning track and Utley’s ball would have been caught just on the track. It did only travel 405′ while Shea’s fence is 410′. Dobbs’ ball is probably caught at the fence. As Kiner says, hypothetical doesnt count. Just goes to show you that anything can happen when you play on a little league field.
Church is a 4th outfielder. He cant hit lefties. He stinks. Schneider is a backup catcher. I hate him. Fire Omar.
Sarcasim is not allowed, the actual boo birds will call you a troll.
Ha. No seriously, nothing against Milledge, but I dont want to hear any crap about how bad that trade was for a while. Church and Schneider have both bought some time with the fans with hot starts. Church is raking, playing very good defense, and hitting lefties. Schneider has had some balls pop out of his glove (that he is still breaking in, whether or not he should be doing this during a game is another question), but we havent really been hurt by those plays. These guys have both been solid, as had Milledge. Good trade for both sides.
I liked seeing Johan mix in the slider a handful of times. It isnt a devestating pitch, but is solid and he located it well for the most part. If he uses it to often, he can hang it, but it is a good finishing pitch against guys like Utley and Howard.
Billy Wagner looks absolutely outstanding in the windup. He looks so much more composed and I think he can be in for a dominating year.
“as had Milledge”
as has milledge**
heart attack heilman is the new blownetiz
Totally classless fans cheering Reyes’ potentially really bad injury. Never have I seen or heard this from fans. It’s traditional to cheer when an opposing player gets up after an injury. Everyone knows this from their first experience with sports. It’s one moment when we all show that some things are more important than winning a game. I was at three mets-phillies games last year and have to say that the phillies fans I interacted with were civil enough. Even the drunk ones I could talk to by starting out complimenting their team (I like Utley and Howard and Rollins a lot as baseball players).. It’s sad that they cheered Reyes’ potential injury, sad and disheartening, as though the football idiocy has now infected baseball. Even Gary and Ron Darling noted how bad this was. Come on Phillies fans, you’re only showing up yourselves with that behavior (and Mets fans, let’s show we’re better than that!).
Very well said
BTW- as I said over at my place, prior to last night, Heilman had gone five appearances (and eight days) without giving up a run… the way I see it, if you’re gonna give up a three-run shot to the Phils at Citizenspank Park, at least it was with a four-run lead. And to be fair, he didn’t leave a mess to clean up- he retired the next two hitters he faced after serving up the dingdong.
Now, now Cerrone, that may be a bit unfair to compare Philly fans to savages. Unfair to savages, that is.
where are all of you Heilman defenders from last week? still saying to yourself “dont worry guys he will get him next time” big deal he came out and got the outs in Sat game, we all know he is still garbage… He is garbage and I cant wait to boo the hell out of him!