Categories: Gameday

Phillies look to hammer Thor and win series in Queens

Syndergaard still features the ‘Thor’ look, but his hammer hasn’t been as powerful this season. (Arturo Pardavila III)

The Philadelphia Phillies (46-42) exploded for five runs in the top of the 9th inning to pull away from the host New York Mets (39-49) for a 7-2 victory on Friday night.

With the win, the Phillies once again find themselves in control of an NL Wildcard playoff slot.

The victory was a sixth straight for the Phillies over their division rivals. By winning just two of the remaining eight games between the two teams this season, the Phillies will capture the season series between them for the first time since 2011.

It is possible that those two wins could come with the final two games in this weekend series at Citi Field. The first of those comes with Saturday night’s contest pitting veteran right-hander Jake Arrieta against the Mets golden-maned ‘Thor’, right-hander Noah Syndergaard.

The host Mets have dropped nine of their last 11 contests and have not enjoyed a winning record since sitting at 16-15 all the way back on May 2. Despite their fourth place standing, the Mets generally are a tough opponent. They have lost 22 games by just one or two runs, and have been the victims of a half-dozen walkoff defeats.

SATURDAY STARTING LINEUPS

PHILLIES

METS

Mets skipper Mickey Callaway continues to insist on hitting 36-year-old Cano in the pivotal 3-spot of his batting order as if it were a decade ago. Cano is slashing a mere .244/.292/.368 with just four homers, 21 extra-base hits, and 18 RBIs this year. However, the veteran is hitting over 100 points higher at home than on the road, batting .329 in 76 at-bats at Citi Field and .195 in 154 at-bats on the road.

SHIBE VINTAGE SPORTS STARTING PITCHING MATCHUP

PHILLIES – Jake Arrieta (33/RH): 8-6, 4.43 ERA, 1.418 WHIP, 5.14 FIP, 107 hits (18 homers) over 103.2 IP across 17 starts with an 81/40 K:BB ratio. He is 4-4 over 18 career starts vs the Mets with a 2.85 ERA and 1.113 WHIP. In five starts at Citi Field, Arrieta has just a .226 batting average against while facing 131 Mets batters. This year, Arrieta has already made three starts vs the Mets: 2-1, 22 hits over 20 IP with a 12/5 K:BB ratio. Won at Citi Field back on April 22.

METS – Noah Syndergaard (26/RH): 5-4, 4.56 ERA, 1.242 WHIP, 3.73 FIP, 98 hits (12 homers) over 100.2 IP across 16 starts with a 98/27 K:BB ratio. ‘Thor’ is 5-3 over 11 career starts vs the Phillies with a 3.71 ERA and 1.368 WHIP. Over 55 home starts during his career, Syndergaard has a nice 2.93 ERA, more than a half-run better than his 3.53 career ERA over 48 road starts. He started on April 16 against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park, allowing nine hits and five earned over just 5 inning in a game the Mets would win 7-6 in 11 innings.

PHILLIES NUGGETS PREGAME NOTES

Todd Frazier has two career homers off Arrieta. Rhys Hoskins has two off Syndergaard.
Phillies have five hitters with a Statcast AEV (average exit velocity) over the 90mph mark: Harper (93.5), Realmuto (91.1), Franco (90.8), Kingery (90.3) and Hoskins (90.1); Mets have Alonso (91.3), Rosario (90.5) and McNeil (90.0)
After homering vs the Phillies for the first time in Friday night’s opener, Alonso has set the Mets’ rookie home run record (29) and owns the NL rookie record for most pre-All-Star home runs.
Going into the Friday night opener, the Mets two primary catchers, Nido and Wilson Ramos, had thrown out just 10 of 82 attempted stolen base attempts, or roughly 12%. By contract, Phillies all-star Realmuto is a true weapon behind the plate. The Phillies went 3-3 in steals on Friday, while the Mets were 0-2 in their attempts.

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