Apr 08 2011 11:46 AM
And I'll tell you why....who among didn't think we were headed to the WS after beating Hamels and taking two in Florida....well , John Harper is here with the reality check....I'm sure he means no harm and in fact I laugh because he is so predictable.....
Phillies, Roy Halladay give Mets a harsh NL East reality check day before Citi Field opener
JOHN HARPER
Roy Halladay befuddles Ike Davis (below) and the Mets over seven innings on Thursday.
| PHILADELPHIA - Just in case the Mets were getting any crazy ideas about who's who in the NL East, the Phillies smacked them around the last two days as routinely as they brush their teeth. You didn't really expect some kind of sea change just because Terry Collins' crew roughed up Cole Hamels in the series opener, did you? Not that surrendering 21 runs the last two days kills all of the good vibe the Mets had created with their 3-1 start, as they return to New York for the home opener Friday at Citi Field against the Nationals. Indeed, where's the Met fan who wouldn't have signed off on a 3-3 road trip against the Marlins and Phillies to open the season? But two ugly losses sure did offer a reality check, reminding everyone just how wide the gap is between these teams. For that matter, Thursday's 11-0 rout offered the rudest reminder of that gap, as Roy Halladay pitched like the ace the Mets don't have these days with Johan Santana on the shelf. The bigger problem, of course, is that the Phillies lead the Mets 4-0 in the ace department, having assembled their Mount Rushmore rotation. And they have started the season swinging hot bats as well, hitting .353 with 43 runs scored in six games. So much for the notion that if a consensus World Series favorite was going to start the season in crisis, it figured to be the Phillies, not the Red Sox. After all, no Chase Utley or Brad Lidge to start the season. No more Jayson Werth to hit behind Ryan Howard. It seemed possible the Phillies were vulnerable in spite of pitching, no? Apparently not. A week into the season they are living up to the hype, at 5-1 a far cry from the winless Red Sox and Rays. Of course, they have only played the Astros and the Mets, but then again, didn't the Indians just sweep the Red Sox? And already the Phillies seem to have a bit of a chip on their shoulder, a trait that has defined them, to some extent, since Jimmy Rollins called them the team to beat way back in 2007. When asked about the club's hot start, Ryan Howard actually said, "I think a lot of people counted us out." As silly as that sounds, it's the type of stuff that fuels the Phillies and will help drive them to a fifth straight October appearance. But that really shouldn't matter to the Mets at the moment. They need to build a foundation for a solid season, making good on Collins' oft-repeated theme that they will "play the right way." So far they have, for the most part, though Thursday they produced a few frightening flashbacks to 2009, with a bad throwing error by Ike Davis and a near-collision in left-center on a routine fly ball. That the outfield confusion came on the heels of Collins' double-switching Daniel Murphy into left field should be fair warning to the manager: Bad things seem to happen when Murphy plays the outfield. That's not much of an issue, but the starting pitching is for the Mets after Jon Niese delivered a wobbly start Thursday on the heels of Mike Pelfrey's clunker on Wednesday. Niese actually had good stuff, as his seven strikeouts in four innings demonstrated, but he paid for making too many mistake pitches - though, to be fair, a bunch of the Phillies hits were more well-placed than crushed. In any case, Niese isn't nearly the concern that Pelfrey is at the moment, but as the No. 3 starter, he needs to be reliable for this team to have any hope of being a surprise contender - especially on a day when Halladay is pitching for the Phillies. Likewise, to hang with the Phillies, the Mets can't miss opportunities like the one they had against Halladay in the third inning, when they loaded the bases with one out, still no score at the time, and David Wright at the plate. Wright is off to a good start, hitting .364, but he already has eight strikeouts in 26 at-bats, which was a major problem for him last year, and with a chance to get to Halladay, he struck out swinging at a cutter down and away. When Davis followed with a groundout to second, the Mets had to know they wouldn't get that kind of chance again. "You can't let good pitchers off the hook," Collins said. "But that's why he is who he is. That's why he's won two Cy Youngs." That's why the Phillies rule the NL East. Just in case anyone allowed himself to think otherwise. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseb ... z1IxGXrQag |