Deflation: Pedro Goes Awry, Mets Dumped by Phils

"It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail." -- Gore Vidal

It was all there for the taking: the NL wildcard lead was ours and under normal circumstances, racing ahead to a 2-0 lead with Pedro on the mound against a team who had only won four of thirteen against you, the chances were pretty good that this morning, the Mets would be leading the NL Wildcard chase.

Instead, struggling to get his fastball over 85 mph, Pedro gave up four homers and five runs on eight hits in seven innings of work which resembled that more of a minstrel than a maestro and the result was a deflating 8-2 loss to the struggling Phillies.


(Mets' Melancholy Baby After Giving Up A Second Homer To Chase Utley)

Meanwhile, the Phillies ace, Randy Myers, got it done. Myers (12-6) allowed six hits and struck out seven, improving to 6-1 in his last 10 starts. He has yielded only three runs in 14 innings at Shea this season, going 2-0 in two starts and the Phillies are now 9-1 in his last 10 starts. Omens, one and all.

Amazingly, the Mets have now lost 12 of Pedro's 27 starts.

The other Phillies hero was Chase Utley, who had two of the homers off Pedro. Utley became the fourth player with a multihomer game against Martinez and the first since Andres Galarraga on June 10, 1998, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The other players were Ellis Burks in 1996 and Bobby Estalella in 1997.

The key to the momentum swing however, might well have been after Phillies centerfielder Kenny Lofton made running catches with his back to home plate on a pair of warning track shots by Cliff Floyd and Victor Diaz in the bottom of the sixth inning. The Phillies coincidentally or not, erupted for three runs in the top of the seventh and sealed the game.


(Lofton helps save Phillies with an epic grab of Diaz' liner)

However, this is no truly glum situation. We wouldn't have realistically imagined a three game sweep against the Phillies, not even at home, and not with the Phillies growing more desperate by the hour on the heels of a three game losing streak. There is still the chance of taking two of three from our division rivals, more than sufficient.

*****

The loss dropped the Mets back to 1 1/2 games behind the Phillies for the wildcard and made it impossible to overtake that lead during this series.

Houston won but the Marlins lost so the Astros are half a game back, the Marlins, a game and the Mets just a half game ahead of the Nationals.

*****

This afternoon Jon Lieber, RHP (12-12, 4.81) faces Glavine.