Tom Glavine did not have his best stuff, but he managed to keep all four home runs to solo shots, enough to keep the team in the game. You really can’t complain about Glavine even though he has had two bad starts in a row now. He can still be the first in the majors to 10 wins because Schilling didn’t win last night either. And no one else has a chance before he does (other than Oscar Villareal). On Sunday, Schilling, Glavine and Kenny Rogers (combined age: 120) will all try for their 10th win. Glavine was first in the majors to 10 wins twice before, but not Mets pitcher has ever done it.
Jose Reyes started off last night’s game with a “Reyes run.” He reached on a bunt, stole second and scored on a single. In all, he reached base 5 times last night, 3 times on walks. He now has 29 walks, 2 more than all of last season, and a .326 OBA. I’d like to see Reyes get his OBA to .350, either by walks or hits. Reyes also made a great hustle play to score from second on a ground ball, but I’ll get into that later.
Beltran and Delgado hit back to back homers in the third to give the Mets a 4-2 lead. David Wright led off the 6th with one, to break the tie. When those three guys are hitting together the Mets are going to be a tough team to beat.
The sixth inning began with that homer by Wright, and from there it got worse for the Phillies. Valentin doubled, Endy reached on an error by Howard and Lastings got hit by a pitch. Bases loaded, no one out. Julio Franco pinch hit, and lined one to Utley, Milledge was too far off and it should have been an easy double play. Utley’s throw was too far down the line and Howard couldn’t get there, allowing Milledge to get back to first and Valentin to score. They walked Reyes, LoDuca reached on a hard ground ball that went off Bell to Rollins. Then Beltran hit another one to Bell at third, his throw home was into Milledge, and bounced away. As Fasano was going after the ball, Reyes followed Milledge home and slid in safely before Fasano could get back.
That made the score 9-4, thanks to 3 Phillies errors.
Chad Bradford was the winning pitcher, saving Glavine’s ass in the fifth. He came in with bases loaded and one out and got a popout and a grounder. Darling pointed out that a pop up against Bradford is rare because of his submarine delivery, but he got one at the right time. Bradford has stranded 20 of 21 inherited runners this season. A huge stat for a reliever. Feliciano pitched two scoreless innings and turned the ball over to Heilman in the 8th.
I’ve bashed Heilman several times so far this year. I don’t think he is bad but he is certainly not pitching well. After getting the first out he gave up a single, a double and then a homer to David Dellucci. He walked Rollins and Willie had to yank him.
Because a left was up, he went to Wagner for a 5 out save. He struck out Utley and got Rollins on a strike em out throw em out to end the 8th.
He walked Abreu to lead off the 9th then Wright made a great play on a ball hit by Burrell and turned it into a double play. A fantastic play by Wright in a huge spot. After Howard, singled he struck out Rowand to record his first save against the Phillies.
Mets now have a 7 ½ game lead, the biggest of any division in the majors.
Rollins, Abreu and Rowand all hit their 8th homer for the Phillies last night.
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