4/10/13
What a beautiful night for baseball in Philadelphia. It was not a beautiful first
game in this series for the Phillies. They lost to the Mets 7-2 against one of
the Mets top young pitchers in their organization - Matt Harvey. Roy Halladay
didn’t help the cause either in that first game because he pitched ineffectively.
Cliff Lee took the mound for the Phillies last night while Dillon Gee started
for the Mets. The differences in the starting lineup for the Mets were Collin
Cowgill leads off and plays in center field replacing Kirk Nieuwenhuis, and
Justin Turner is playing at first base instead of Ike Davis. The changes for
the Phillies were Erik Kratz catching the game instead of Humberto Quintero,
and John Mayberry Jr. playing in right field replacing Laynce Nix. Would the
Mets come out strong as they did last game or would Cliff Lee dominate them?
Could the Phillies offense give Lee run support?
It seems like Lee has set the standard for Phillies
pitching. His night was better once the Phillies scored eight runs early in the
game. It started in the second inning when Michael Young and Domonic Brown
laced a pair of singles. Young wanted to test the arm of Lucas Duda in left
field. Duda committed a throwing error as the ball hit Young as he was hustling
to third base. Brown also advanced to second on the error. John Mayberry Jr.
started the scoring as he ripped a two-RBI double down the left field line scoring
both Young and Brown. Lee helped himself out by hitting an RBI single into
centerfield and Mayberry Jr. scored from second to make it a 3-0 game. As Ben
Revere dumped a single into left field to move Lee to second base, Jimmy
Rollins pulled an RBI double down the right field line to score Lee. It was a
4-0 Phillies lead, and in two games in which they had a 4-0 lead early in the
game, the Phillies wounded up losing both of those games. Could they keep
scoring more runs or will the pitching implode later in the game?
In the next inning, the Phillies hit three homeruns. Ryan
Howard and Young hit back-to-back homeruns while Mayberry Jr. hit a solo
homerun just inside the left field foul pole. Just like that it was a 7-0 game.
Gee’s night was over just as the third inning ended. He allowed 10 hits, seven
runs, and struck out two batters.
The Mets scored two runs on a two-run homerun by John Buck
in the fourth inning. It was a 7-2 game and I’m sure fans were thinking “Oh
no…not again. Let’s not blow THIS game.”
The Phillies got another run back in the same inning off of
new pitcher Greg Burke. As Chase Utley walked and then stole second, Young got
Utley home by shooting an RBI triple into the left center field gap and it was
an 8-2 game. Young was only a double shy of hitting for the cycle.
The Mets answered with one final run in the fifth inning.
Jordany Valdespin hit a triple that Revere
misjudged in center field. As Valdespin hit that triple, he pounded his heart
twice in celebration. This is what you should NOT do when you’re on the losing
end of an 8-2 game. Valdespin scored on a passed ball that Kratz couldn’t
handle and it was an 8-3 game. This happened to be the final score too.
The Mets bullpen pitched exceptionally well as Burke, Scott
Rice, Latroy Hawkins, and Brandon Lyon pitched a combined five innings, allowed
one hit, one run, walked two, and struck out five batters.
Cliff Lee was one out shy of recording a complete game, but
Charlie Manuel pulled him out of the game. The fans showed displeasure when
Manuel came out of the dugout to hand the ball over to Mike Adams to record the
final out of the game. Lee pitched 8 2/3 innings, allowed eight hits, three
runs (two were earned), and struck out six batters. Adams
struck out the only batter he faced in the ninth inning.
Overall, the Phillies needed to display a game like this
where they can dominate. Their pitching may be the key to the season, but if
the offense can consistently score runs to support the pitching, I can see
bright things happening in the Phillies future. Lee has been unbelievable in
his first two starts. I’m sure in the back of his mind that he is thinking,
“Where was this last year?” It was great to see Howard hit his first homerun of
the season, especially since it was an opposite field homerun. I wish Michael
Young would have hit for the cycle so we wouldn’t have to hear that the last
Phillie to have hit for the cycle was David Bell in 2004 against the
non-existent Montreal Expos.
What did this game
mean to you, the fan? Sound off and stay tuned as Kyle Kendrick takes the mound
for the Phillies in the rubber match. Jeremy Hefner will start for the Mets.
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