Phillies Pound Parnell

I often wonder how Mets fans sleep at night with their team being as awful as they were last night. The hopeless baseball team that is the New York Mets fell 7-5 to the Philadelphia Phillies Friday after the bullpen allowed six runs in the eighth inning. The two run loss occurred against a beat-up, injured defending NL champion team. The Philly victory pushed them within 1 ½ games of the division-leading Atlanta Braves, while New York erased an encouraging starting pitching performance by Jonathan Niese. The 23 year old lefty tossed seven innings of one-run ball, striking out seven batters. It was the tenth time in twenty starts the young southpaw yielded one run or less in an outing. Niese’s unreliable and shaky bullpen imploded with a one-run lead in hand during the eighth to send the Mets below .500 with a 54-55 record.
Phillies’ pitcher, Joe Blanton, did not stick around for the decision but also pitched a strong game for the home team. Blanton allowed two runs and seven hits for his best outing of the season. Philadelphia scored in the first frame on Placido Polanco’s RBI double. The Mets tied the game two innings later with a run on a Jose Reyes base hit. New York tacked on a second run in the fourth following a string of three consecutive singles. Jose Thole poked home the go-ahead tally, plating David Wright for the backstop’s seventh RBI of the year.
Bobby Parnell began the bottom of the eighth in relief of Niese. Parnell faced four batters, giving up four hits and four earned runs in being tagged with the loss and ruining Niese’s gem. Ben Francisco dumped a single to the outfield to tie the game at 2-2. Carlos Ruiz followed by smacking a single off Parnell for the hometown edge. Pedro Feliciano took over after the Phillies punished pitiful Parnell. Wilson Valdez slapped a bunt base hit to load the bases with nobody out, and Ross Gload drew a walk to pad the Phillies’ lead to 4-2. Shortstop, Jimmy Rollins’ RBI single made it 5-2 in favor of Philadelphia and ended the evening for Feliciano. Manny Acosta entered the game with just one out in the epic eighth. The right-handed reliever from Panama couldn’t prevent the Phillies from extending their lead. Polanco launched a sacrifice fly, scoring Valdez from third to put the Phillies up by four runs. A Mike Sweeney single plated Gload as Philadelphia completed their six run comeback.
Mike Hessman, the Mets’ pinch-hitter, collected a three-run homerun to highlight the ninth inning, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the damage done during the dismal eighth. Closer Brad Lidge was summoned from the bullpen and put an end to the Mets’ night with a strikeout of Jesus Feliciano. The depleted Phillies, playing without Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Shane Victorino, held on to defeat their division rivals in a messy affair at Citizen’s Bank Park. Sweeney, in his first start since joining the Phillies, trigged the decisive rally and finished it off with a base hit in leading the team with two RBIs. The Phillies prevailed, despite stranding 14 runners on base. Chad Durbin was credited with the win, his third of the season. The Mets have dropped nine of their last ten series starters on the road. The Phillies will try to pick up where they left off last night when Cole Hamels opposes Johan Santana in the middle game of a three-game series.

Parting Points: NFL Hall of Fame inductees today include Emmitt Smith and Jerry Rice---two of the greatest players of their decade.