The Mets defeated the Phillies by the score of 7-4 this afternoon in Philadelphia. Here are my takeaways from today’s win…
A productive offense.
Yes, the Mets actually produced with the bats today. It took them four innings to get it going against Chad Billingsley, but they strung together three consecutive innings in the middle of the game in which they scored thanks to a Wilmer Flores RBI single in the fourth, a two-run home run for Curtis Granderson in the fifth, an RBI double for Kirk Nieuwenhuis in the sixth, and he came around to score on a throwing error by Cameron Rupp when Nieuwenhuis stole third.
They also did a great job tacking on runs when they needed to today, thanks to a couple of singles by Anthony Recker and Ruben Tejada to set the table in the eighth inning, and then a big pinch-hit two-run double from Johnny Monell to give the Mets some breathing room.
It wasn’t a conventional lineup featured by Terry Collins today, but honestly, it’s not like the guys he sat today were hitting very much, so it’s difficult to dispute his choices this afternoon. And, his choices paid off today.
Bart was Bart.
Quick, efficient, and unaffected by anything. That’s the name of Bartolo Colon’s game, and he produced seven good enough innings. He seemed to hit a wall in the seventh inning when he got roped for three straight hits, but he was otherwise fine today.
It wasn’t totally unexpected he’d give up some runs today given the conditions at that hitters haven in Philadelphia. But, like he always seems to do, he found a way to get it done and give the Mets what they needed for a win, and the bats picked him up.
Alex Torres…
What in the world is going on with Torres? He may actually have no clue where the ball is going right now.
He’s walked three batters, hit one, and gotten only two outs in 2/3 of an inning over two days in this series. For some reason, Terry Collins stuck with him today despite his scary struggles in the seventh inning, and somehow snuck out the fire escape after coiling himself into the ground. He was helped along by Ryan Howard swinging at the first pitch after he had just hit Chase Utley to load the bases, but breaks are breaks I suppose, and somehow Collins won his bet despite the odds being heavily stacked against him with that decision.
Other notes from Sunday:
Colon did not issue a walk again today – he has not issued a walk in his last 40 1/3 innings.
Every Met starting position player had at least one hit today.
Daniel Murphy went 3-for-5 to raise his average to .234 for the year.
Ruben Tejada singled, walked and scored a run – he has three hits in his last two games.
Jeurys Familia recorded his 13th save in as many opportunities, his second save in as many games.
The Mets have won four of their last five games, and earned their tenth come-from-behind victory on Sunday.
The Mets played 26 of their first 31 games against the NL East – they went 17-9 in those 26 games.
The Mets have won nine of their last ten series in Philadelphia.
Just Mets 