Sep 05 2008 03:15 PM
Edited 8 time(s), most recently on Sep 06 2008 09:12 AM
This weekend, the very best of the NL East (baseball division and geographic region) will meet for the last time this regular season in a three game series at Shea Stadium -- first game tonight. The Mets and the Phillies are virtually inseparable on the basis of their respective W-L records; the two teams have played the same number of regular season games since Opening Day 2007, The Mets are 167-135, two games better than the Phils’ 165-137 record. The Phils enjoy a 17-16 one-game edge in head to head meetings between the two rivals over that same span. Competitively, the two teams appear to be equal. In the standings, though, the Mets are three games ahead of the Phils with 22 games remaining for each team. Magic Number Warning! Look Away if you Must! (This works out to a Mets Magic Number of 20).
The Phils have emerged as the Mets latest rival du jour, having replaced the fading Braves, especially when they edged out the Mets by one game to claim last year’s divisional crown –undoubtedly the most painful one game differential in Mets franchise history. Of course, the Mets have never had a permanent rival of their own; a Hatfield to their McCoy, much the way the Dodgers and Giants, as one example, have always had each other to hate. Met rivals were historically transient, temporary and of the moment, like the U.S. and Japan. Or 1979 Phillies teammates Pete Rose and Bud Harrelson. Much of this is surely attributable to the early Mets fantastic incompetence and extended infancy. Stengel’s lovable Mets were likely welcomed if not openly craved by their opponents for the pushovers that they once were -- hardly a recipe for inviting rivalrydom.
When the Mets evolved into contenders under manager Gil Hodges, the Phillies, led by C-List stars such as Willie Montanez were vying for worst NL team status. A few years later, when the Phillies would phield the phinest teams in their personal phranchise history, phronted by Steve Carlton and sluggers Mike Schmidt and Greg Luzinski, the De Roulet Mets, saddled with their own Willie Montanezish C-List stars -- like Willie Montanez -- were suffering their worst years ever. Until now, the two teams were never in meaningful competitive synch; in a few scattered seasons, they were irrelevant foes battling for the championship of the middle of the division. – a statistical unlikelihood magnified by the fact that the Mets and Phils are the only two NL franchises to have existed in the Eastern division since its’ creation.
Trivia: Who are the only four MLB players to have appeared in at least 275 games for both the Mets and the Phillies? Answer appears below.
The two teams are top-heavy, loaded with star power, including quite a few of the game’s most recognizable talent. While the Mets boast three of Baseball Prospectus’ top 10 of their 50 most desirable (Santana, Wright & Reyes – Beltran is another top 50er), the Phils are not without their own superstars, including the reigning if not deserving MVP, shortstop Jimmy Rollins, the slightly (but never slight) undeserving MVP of two years ago, Ryan Howard, and the always in the running legitimate MVP candidate second baseman Chase Utley. The Phils core is as good as any other team's. Throw in perennial Met-killer Pat Burrell (30 HR’s) and it’s easy to understand why the Phillies are a formidable opponent. 
Here, one can’t avoid being reminded that the Phillies have garnered their fair share of personal achievements at the Mets expense, whether it’s snatching an MVP from David Wright, or Howard crushing just a few more All Star Home Run Derby taters than our same boy Wright, Bunning's perfecto, or Mike Schmidt always, I mean always, going yard just a tad more often than Dave Kingman.
Two of the three games will be televised nationally (FOX –Sat. afternoon, ESPN – Sunday night).
Sunday night’s ESPN televised game features the teams’ respective aces Johan Santana and Cole Hamels, facing each other and is the most anticipated of the three games. Both aces qualify as this season’s best NL pitchers not yet seriously considered for the Cy Young Award. Hamel’s start has been moved up a day with the specific purpose of facing the Mets, bumping back of the rotation Phillie starter Kyle Kendrick. This speaks to the urgency with which the Phillies are surely approaching this series. Though the two pitchers are lefties, Santana, notably, shuts down the opponent's running game about as good as any other pitcher in baseball, while Hamels is among the worst in this department.
Jamie Moyer will start against the Mets on Saturday. This will be Moyer’s sixth start against the Mets this season. Though Moyer is usually very effective against the Mets, he was battered for nine hits in three innings in his last appearance against the Mets, on August 26, a game the Mets bullpen eventually blew.
The Phils bullpen was among the Majors’ strongest until just a few weeks ago; the consensus speculated opinion attributes the recent lapse here to overwork. Still, the Phils closer, Brad Lidge has been one of 2008’s most reliable – think Billy Wags but with hardly any of the meltdowns - Wagner's Greatest Hits, if you will.
Tonight’s starter, Brett Myers, has won six of his last seven starts and has lowered his ERA by more than a run and a half in that stretch, an impressive statistical accomplishment for a regular starting pitcher at this late point in the season.
Miscellaneous:
Both teams more or less tread water on the road, and have impressive home records. This trend obviously favors the Mets this weekend.
According to Elias Sports Bureau, the Phillies' .235 average since Aug. 1 is second-lowest in the NL. Their .229 average with runners in scoring position is the NL's third worst.
I still haven’t found any evidence that Mike Schmidt ever participated in the 1979 MLB All Star Tour of Japan. I say it’s Bowa, for sure.
