On the day that the news about Matt Harvey’s elbow was surprisingly announced, the Mets also played a game of baseball against the Phillies. Whether or not the team wins games through the end of this season was pretty irrelevant before the Harvey news and seems to matter even less now, but it still would have been nice if they pulled out a win tonight.
Zack Wheeler had another good start in the team’s loss, though, which was certainly the silver lining of the day. He threw six-and-two-thirds innings, gave up two runs, struck out seven, and walked just one. He now has a 3.42 ERA and peripheral stats that are at least trending in the right direction.
The culprit in the loss was, as usual, the Mets’ inept offense. Facing Cliff Lee rarely helps any team score runs, but the Mets eked out just one run in the second inning in the game. Marlon Byrd reached second base—officially it was a double—when Phillies center fielder Roger Bernadina let the ball drop because he thought right fielder John Mayberry was going to catch it. Andrew Brown then singled to score Byrd, but Lee escaped the rest of that inning without further damage and kept them off the board through the eighth.
Wheeler gave up both of the Phillies’ runs in the fourth inning. With two outs and nobody on, Michael Young singled and Wheeler walked Darin Ruf, whose name just looks like it’s short a couple of letters. Youngster Cody Asche then tripled into the gap to score both runners, which gave the Phillies the lead and, eventually, the victory.
The icing on the kick-in-the-pants cake that was Monday, August 26, 2013, for the Mets and their fans: Jonathan Papelbon pitched a one-two-three ninth inning to close out the Phillies’ victory.
The series continues tomorrow at 7:10 pm at Citi Field, and Jon Niese is slated to make the start for the good guys.
SB Nation Coverage
* Amazin' Avenue Gamethread
* The Good Phight Gamethread
Win Probability Added
Big winners:Carlos Torres, +11.2% WPA
Big losers:Josh Satin, -18.3% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Brown’s single in the second, +8.0% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Asche’s two-run triple in the fourth, -27.0% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +14.3% WPA
Total batter WPA: -64.3% WPA
GWRBI!: Cody Asche