Slugging 1B Ryan Howard hit 2 early homers while trade deadline acquisition LH SP Cliff Lee continues to pitch great in the NL as the Philadelphia Phillies handled the New York Mets 6-2 Monday afternoon at Citi-Field. Howard hit two homers in his first two plate appearances vs Mets starter, rookie RH Bobby Parnell, a three run shot in the 1st and with a runner on in the 3rd for 5 rbi. Lee now stands at 5-0 with a 0.68 ERA in 5 NL starts and is 12-9 overall in 2009. LF Gary Sheffield had 2 hits to pace the Mets.
Parnell(3-6,5.08) making his 4th ML start ,walked two of the first three Phillies before the Howard’s homer. The slugging 1st bagger has 4 consecutive 30 homer and 100 rbi seasons, the first time a Phillies player had achieved that since 1929-32. Parnell went 5 innings, allowing 4 hits and 5 runs(all on Howard’s homers) . He walked and struck out 3, while throwing 103 pitches.(56 strikes) “I’m just scrambling a little to get back to my groove as a starter,” said Parnell, who filled that role in the minors.
Lee was great and only some shady fielding allowed the Mets to score their first run of the game. Phillies 2B Chase Utley made a 3 base error on CF Angel Pagan’s pop up, allowing him to score. Sheffield tripled a batter later and scored on a sacrifice fly from 3B Fernando Tatis to make it 3-2 Philly. After that, the Mets made Lee looik like Bruce Lee. Plain and simple, he kicked their butts. He threw 7 innings of 6 hit ball, allowing no earned runs and K-ing 5. He threw an amazing 83 strikes out of 113 pitches!!!! The talented lefty became the first Philadelphia pitcher to win his first five starts since 1980. “It was already an unbelievable team before I got here. That’s made it easy for me,” Lee said. “It’s been a pretty smooth transition.”
Amazingly, the Mets got more bad news post game. RF Jeff Francoeur, one of the few shining lights on this nightmare of a season, has a torn ligament in his left thumb.(non-throwing hand) The Mets right fielder, who is hitting .305 with 6 homer runs and 24 rbi in 39 games with NY, injured himself making the overturned catch in the 8th inning Sunday. He is considered day to day and will try to play with the thumb. However, remember this injury is almost identical to the one that put INF Alex Cora out for the season.
As bad as the news was on Francoeur, Mets skipper Jerry Manuel had even more medical updates to drive Mets fans to the Brooklyn Bridge. Ace LH Johan Santana will miss his next start with discomfort in his pitching elbow.“He has not been throwing between starts for quite awhile. I would say since before the All-Star break. He has been pitching with this problem, but not with the level of discomfort he has now,” manager Jerry Manuel said. “Now, it concerns him.”
Stars of the Game: Howard and Lee— enough said
Mets starting line-up:
1- CF Angel Pagan
2- 2B Luis Castillo
3- LF Gary Sheffield
4- 3B Fernando Tatis
5- 1B Daniel Murphy
6- C Omir Santos
7- RF Cory Sullivan
8- SS Anderson Hernandez
9- Pitcher
Game Notes: Mets went 4-7 on the 11 game homestand….Veteran RH Nelson Figueroa will make Santana’s start Tuesday… Cory Sullivan started in RF for Francoeur…In what might be his last appearance in a Mets uniform, LH RP Billy Wagner made his 2nd appearance since returning from Tommy John surgery last September. He struck out two in a hitless eighth… The Phillies scored an insurance run vs. LH Pedro Feliciano in the 9th on back to back doubles from Utley and LF Raul Ibanez
Wagner Update: Wagner expects to be a Met as Tuesday’s 1 pm waiver deal deadline with the Red Sox approaches. The two clubs have until that time to work out a deal after Boston claimed the fireballing lefty last week. Wagner has contract and health issues that might scare off the Sox and to be quite frank, the Mets need players now.
Next Game:
Tuesday
7:10 pm
Start 3 game series vs. the Marlins in Florida
Mets RH Nelson Figueroa(1-2,6.30) vs. Marlins LH Sean West(4-5,4.70)
