Thought the no-hitter against LA was rock bottom? Guess not. The 2014 Phillies (24-31) continued their disappointing season tonight in embarrassing fashion. They dropped four out of five to the New York Mets (28-29) and tonight's game was as ugly as they come. Trailing by three heading into the top of the ninth, the Phils bullpen imploded, sending the home team to their eventual fate of 11-2. Philadelphia is now 12-19 at home and the fifth worst team in all of baseball, ahead of only Houston, Arizona, Tampa Bay and the Chicago Cubs.
The necessary, yet painful, recap is below…
The Game: To no one's surprise, the Mets got on the board first in this one. Also to no one's surprise, it was scored by none other than Bobby Abreu. Abreu hit a one-out double and scored on an RBI single off the bat of Lucas Duda to give New York a 1-0 lead. With the Phillies bullpen hurting after three long games, starter Roberto Hernandez was doing them no favors, throwing 38 pitches through just two innings. Eight of those were in the first inning, 30 in the second.
Ryan Howard nearly knotted the game up in the bottom of the inning, but was robbed of a home run by Matt den Dekker in center field. The Mets outfielder made a leaping catch to grab the ball before it went over the wall. The Phils had another opportunity to tie things up in the third. Reid Brignac singled and Roberto Hernandez bunted him to second. Ben Revere followed with a single and third base coach Pete Mackanin decided to send Brignac home on the play. It wasn't even close as the Phils third baseman was gunned down by Matt den Dekker to end the threat.
The Mets extended their lead in the sixth. Matt den Dekker and Daniel Murphy led off with back-to-back singles. With none out and runners on the corners, David Wright ripped a 2-0 pitch from Hernandez over Ben Revere in center field off of the wall, good enough to score both den Dekker and Murphy. 3-0 Mets. With two runners on and just one out, Ryne Sandberg called upon Mario Hollands, ending Roberto Hernandezs' night after 5 1/3 innings and 101 pitches.
Hollands seemed to have a tailor-made double-play ball off the bat of Lucas Duda, but it was botched by Chase Utley, allowing the Mets to load the bases with one down. The error would come back to haunt them as Hollands surrendered a two-run double to Travis d'Arnaud to make it 5-0 Mets with still just one out. The Phillies lefty set Bartolo Colon and Matt den Decker down on strikes to stop the bleeding and strand the bases loaded.
The Phillies answered in the bottom of the sixth. Cesar Hernandez worked a lead-off walk. Up next was Chase Utley and he smacked his league-leading 23rd double down the line in right, advancing Hernandez to third with none out. The Phillies got their first run of the game courtesy of an RBI groundout from Ryan Howard, cutting the lead to 5-1. That would be all the Phils would get as Marlon Byrd lined out for out number two and Ruiz grounded out to third for the final out.
The Phillies would threaten again in the eighth inning. Back-to-back singles by Ben Revere and Cesar Hernandez set up Chase Utley with none out and runners on first and second. Utley flew out to center, but Revere tagged up to third on the play, putting runners on the corners with one down. Ryan Howard struck out for the second out. The Phils would get a another run thanks to a Jeurys Familia wild pitch, which scored Ben Revere. Marlon Byrd flew out to left to end the inning with the Mets maintaining a three-run lead, 5-2.
The Mets padded their lead in the top of the ninth. Jake Diekman walked Chris Young to start. After striking out Matt den Decker, Diekman gave up a single to Daniel Murphy, advancing Young to third. Then, Diekman walked David Wright to load up the bases. Curtis Granderson blew the game open with a two-RBI single to score Young and Murphy, making it 7-2 Mets.
That was all for Diekman as Sandberg switched to Phillippe Aumont, who gave up the go-ahead runs in yesterday's game. As we have come to see with the tall righty, control has been an issue. Aumont walked the first batter he faced to load the bases back up for Lucas Duda. Aumont struck out Duda but served up a grand slam in the very next at-bat to Wilmer Flores (who?).
That was all she wrote. Mets win this one in blowout fashion, 11-2.
Impact: Since May 4th, the Phillies are 9-17, the worst record in the NL since then. At that point, they were 15-14, just 1.5 games out of first. Oh have things changed. We needed a good outing from Roberto Hernandez and we didn't get it. The bullpen was called on in the fifth and the game was pretty much over by that time. Sure, Chase Utley's error didn't help matters, but this offense is getting harder to watch each game. With Rollins out of the lineup, I really didn't expect much of anything. I'd normally elaborate on how awful they looked, but it wouldn't do it justice. On to the pathetic bullpen. They gave us some hope during the weekend games that went into extras, but boy did they come back to earth tonight. Especially two of them. Diekman and Aumont looked more awful than they ever have. In the top of the ninth alone, the duo combined to give up six runs on three hits and three walks. Aumont gave up a grand slam to add insult to injury. The Phillies are becoming unwatchable.
Up Next: Now that their Mets nightmare is over, the Phillies will head down I-95 in search of better luck in a three-game set with the Nationals (27-28), who have lost six of their last nine, but just took two out of three from the Rangers. David Buchanon (1-1, 3.86) gets the nod for his third start in the majors. He will be up against Nats right-hander, Jordan Zimmermann (3-2, 4.07). First pitch is set for 7:05PM at Nationals park in DC.
Brandon Apter, Publishing Editor for Philliedelphia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ApterShock
