For the second night in a row, the Phillies came back and defeated the Mets in extra innings off of a home run. This time, it was Raul Ibanez who hit a three-run homer in the 10th inning off of Ken Takahashi. Bobby Parnell allowed a 10th inning hit and took his second straight loss.
The game started off much like last night as the Mets were leading 3-2 in the sixth inning. Tim Redding pitched as well as could be expected, striking out six, allowing six hits and completing seven innings.
His opponent, Jamie Moyer, pitched equally as well going six innings, striking out three and allowing eight hits. Like Redding, he allowed three runs.
Once again, the Mets could not muster any offensive after Moyer left the game. The Phillies bullpen was excellent in the two Mets’ losses, essentially pitching the equivalent of a complete game shutout. As a matter of fact, the Phillies ‘pen only allowed one hit in four scoreless innings tonight.
It wasn’t that the Mets had a bad night at the plate. Both David Wright and Luis Castillo each had three hits. Castillo scored all three Mets runs, while Carlos Beltran knocked in all three runs. Sheffield had another rough night, going 0-for-4 at the plate. Alex Cora and Fernando Martinez combined to go 0-for-6.
The Mets really need Sheffield and some of the other position players to produce if they want to win any games. The Mets next play Friday night at the new Yankee Stadium in the first Subway Series game this year. That will give the Mets the opportunity to make Sheffield the designated hitter, resting his legs.
With the Mets now four games behind the Phillies, they’re going to need an excellent series vs. the Yankees. Livan Hernandez, John Maine and Johan Santana are set to pitch in the series.
Maine was originally set to pitch Friday but switched spots with Livan Hernandez to give him an extra day of rest. Maine allowed seven earned runs against the Nationals of all teams. Jerry Manuel is hoping Maine was just suffering from lingering effects of a stomach virus and not a deeper problem.
