Mets Strike Early, Blank Phils 5-0

The Metropolitans got to the Vanimal early, plating four runs in the first four innings on two home runs en route to blanking the Phils 5-0. David Wright hit a first inning bomb to straight away center on the first pitch he saw from Worley answering any questions about the health of his pinky. Lucas Duda added a two run shot in the fourth and the Mets never looked back. It’s early, but the Phillies are now 3.5 games back of the Washington Nationals and 3 games behind the Mets, with whom they wrap up a three game set with tomorrow.

Storylines:

– Good but not great: Worley surrendered 8 hits over 6 innings, which isn’t horrible, but the 4 walks added some extra pressure. Only one of the walked runners scored and one was intentional, but it was clear Worley did not have his best stuff. On the positive end, Worley struck out nearly a batter an inning (5 Ks in 6 IP).

– Power outage: The Phillies’ hardest hit ball all night was from the ageless Brian Schneider in the bottom of the second. Mets CF Kirk Nieuwenhuis made a great play that robbed Schneider of at least a double and prevented Freddy Galvis from scoring.

– Good starts, bad endings: Phillies hitters were able to start innings with a base runner three times. All six Phillies hits were singles. The Phillies managed to turn three of those singles into GIDPs.

– Nothing from the heart of the line-up?: Phils 1-5 hitters were 3-15 today (.200) and only put back-to-back hits together once (first inning).

– In a pinch? Juan Pierre’s 8th inning pinch hit single was the first for a Phillie all year. Phillies pinch hitters are now 1-9. Is it too late to call Ross Gload?

– Bullpen success: David Herndon and Antonio Bastardo combined for two excellent innings. Herndon lowered his ERA to 3.00 with an inning a third of scoreless ball with a strikeout and a hit given up. Bastardo K’ed both batters he faced.

– Bullpen failure: Mike Stutes, on the other hand, looked particularly shaky in his inning of work. A pinch-hit, one-out walk from Brian Baxter started a big 9th for the Mets. Baxter stole second and scored on a single from Ruben Tejada. Stutes walked two, allowed one hit, and gave up an earned run. It took Stutes 30 pitches (17 strikes) to get through the 9th. Stutes may be the odd man out should Jose Contreras be activated from the DL; no inside information but there will be a Phillies Nation post shortly detailing some reasoning.

The Phillies wrap up their three game set with the Mets tomorrow at 1:35 at the Bank before headed on a 10 game, West Coast Road Trip with sets against the Giants, Padres, and Diamondbacks.