So apparently the Phillies are facing a team called “The Mets” today. I’m not sure I’ve heard of them. I vaguely remember the Phillies playing a team called “The Mets” earlier in the season and it did not go well. Or maybe it was “The Moops.” Or “The Meeps?” Whatever. The Phillies are back in Flushing to play them, and come what may. Though to be honest, we couldn’t ask for a better day of Phillies pitching. Zach Eflin is on for the first game, while Aaron Nola starts the second. Ahem, I’m sorry. I mean PHILLIES ALL-STAR AARON NOLA. Hell yes. Discuss the game in the comments below.<doc-sep>Wilmer Flores had yet another walkoff hit, launching a game-winning home run in extras to give the Mets a 4-3 win. The Zack-Zach starting pitching matchup was underwhelming and the Met offense went to sleep in the late innings, but the franchise leader in walkoff hits came through with his fourth game-ender of the season. Zack Wheeler was unlucky early in the game, as the Phillies kept hitting bloops and weak ground balls that found the outfield grass. He gave up three runs in 4.2 innings, striking out eight and walking three, but he performed much better than the box score indicates. The bullpen was brilliant to back him up, with Seth Lugo, Robert Gsellman, Jeurys Familia, and Tim Peterson combining for 5.1 innings of scoreless relief to keep the game knotted at three until the tenth. We still have another game to go tonight, with rookie pitchers going on both sides. Hopefully things go as well as they did in this one. Full recap to follow. GameThread Roll Call Nice job by MetsFan4Decades; her effort in the GameThread embiggens us all.<doc-sep>The Phillies’ six-game win streak was snapped on Sunday, but they’ll have a great opportunity to earn more wins this week when they travel to New York to face the dreadful Mets. Not only will the teams match up for four games, but they’ll even play two games in one day! (Otherwise known as a doubleheader.) After getting off to a hot start, things have fallen apart for the 2018 Mets. It’s hard to believe that this team started the season 11-1 and was 17-9 at the end of April. Since that month ended, they’ve staggered their way to a brutal 18-41 record. Their 35 wins are fewest in the National League (although that’s mostly because they’ve played six fewer games than the Miami Marlins.) The Last Time They Met The Mets - who had not yet devolved into garbage at that point - visited Philadelphia in mid-May. The Mets won the first game, the second game was postponed (hence Monday’s doubleheader), and the Phillies won the finale. And Since Then? Shortly after that series, the aforementioned devolving into garbage began. They went through a stretch in which they lost 12 out of 13 games, and then followed up with another stretch where they dropped 10 of 11. They’re not coming into this game especially hot as they’ve been shut out in two straight games, and nearly had a perfect game pitched against them on Sunday. Mets Pitching vs. Phillies Offense The Mets boast two of the NL’s best starting pitchers on their roster. Unfortunately for them, one of those pitchers (Noah Syndergaard) is on the disabled list and will not be able to pitch in this series. Instead, they’ll go with Zack Wheeler in the opener. Wheeler has served in somewhat of an inning-eater role this season. He’s pitched into the sixth inning in all but three of his starts this season, but the quality of those six innings has varied. The Mets hope that Wheeler can pitch relatively deep in the game, because rookie Corey Oswalt will pitch the nightcap of the doubleheader, and he hasn’t made it out of the fifth inning in any of his three starts this season. The Mets have yet to announce a starter for Tuesday’s game. They might be forced to utilize the dreaded bullpen game. That leads to the question: Is the Mets’ bullpen any good? It’s hard to base a bullpen’s quality just based on stats. That said, the stats are not flattering. They rank next to last in the majors in relief pitcher WAR, and rank near the bottom in both ERA and FIP. The Mets have a glimmer of hope on Wednesday as their ace Jacob deGrom is scheduled to pitch. deGrom has had a lot of success against the Phillies in his career with a 6-1 record and 2.74 ERA. His previous start against the Phillies this season was unusual. He was coming off a stint on the disabled list, and only lasted one inning in which he threw 45 pitches - but he didn’t allow any runs. It sounds like deGrom would totally be okay with it if the Mets decided to undergo a total rebuild and traded him to a team that didn’t suck. This group of pitchers will try to shut down a Phillies offense that continues to rank near the middle of the pack in most categories (although those rankings have slowly been improving over the past month). You might be surprised to see that their two best hitters over the past two weeks have been Andrew Knapp (albeit in a part-time role) and Maikel Franco. (Who needs Manny Machado, right?) Phillies Pitching vs. Mets Offense The Mets’ roster is loaded with familiar names: Adrian Gonzalez, Asdrubal Cabrera, Todd Frazier, Yoenis Cespedes, Jay Bruce, Jose Bautista, and Jose Reyes are all some of the well-known players who have suited up for the Mets at some point this season. Of course, many of those players are injured, and for the most part, the others have been ineffectual. Is there anyone who isn’t hurt or washed up? Cabrera is having a surprisingly strong year, and is on pace for a career high in home runs. Bautista has found some new life in his bat since coming over the National League. As far as players who weren’t All-Stars in the past, Brandon Nimmo has emerged as a rare positive. The Mets aren’t going to have an easy time of it in Monday’s doubleheader. Aaron Nola will pitch the nightcap, and he was very deservedly named to his first All-Star team yesterday. The first game goes to Zach Eflin, who has actually been better than Nola over the past few weeks. And yes, this means that this game will feature a thrilling Zack vs. Zach matchup! We may finally determine which is the proper way to spell the nickname! (I’m on team H) For the second time this week, a Phillies pitcher will be making his first major league start. Enyel De Los Santos has been called up for Tuesday’s game, and we’ll see if the rookie’s minor league success (1.89 ERA in AAA) carries over to the big leagues. I hope he succeeds, because that will help quiet down the “should’ve kept Freddy Galvis” club. The finale goes to Vince Velasquez who is making his return from the disabled list. The last time we saw Velasquez, he was making an amazing play: UNREAL effort by Vince Velasquez He gets hit in his right arm by a line drive, so he gets the out at first with his LEFT arm pic.twitter.com/fQY6fUAdA1 — Sports Illustrated (@SInow) June 30, 2018 Velasquez has been successful at CitiField in the past. In three starts, he’s 1-0 with a 2.12 ERA. Trivia Only one player on the Phillies’ 40-man roster has ever hit a home run off of Jacob deGrom. Name that player. Boo This Man In recent years, Jose Reyes has been accused of domestic violence and failure to pay child support to one of his mistresses. This season, his play on the field has been garbage as well, as his OPS is under .500.<doc-sep>Phillies vs. Mets Prediction The Philadelphia Phillies and host New York Mets were postponed on April 2, resulting in a doubleheader today. Will either team get the upper hand in today's double dip or will it end in a split? Game Snapshot 925 Philadelphia Phillies at 926 New York Mets (Game 1) 903 Philadelphia Phillies at 094 New York Mets (Game 2) Monday, July 9, 2018 Citi Field at 4:05:PM ET (Game 1) TV: MLB Network (Game 1); SNY (Game 2) Compare odds from multiple different online sportsbooks and shop for the best lines at our new Baseball Odds & Betting Page. Public Betting Information According to oddsmakers, the Phillies are a -108 favorite in Game 1. The Mets are a -102 underdog, while the over-under is set at 8 runs. In Game 2, the Phillies are a -167 favorite to win on the moneyline. The Mets are a +157 underdog and the total is set at 8 runs again. As of Monday morning, 79 percent of public bets are pouring in on visiting Philadelphia in Game 1 and 86 percent are siding with the Phillies in Game 2. Check out our MLB Public Betting Page for the latest updates. Philly slowed down at Pittsburgh The Phillies had their six-game winning streak snapped Sunday with a 4-1 loss at the Pirates. Philadelphia evened the score at 1-1 in the fourth inning on a solo home run by Nick Williams, his 11th of the season. But the Pirates scored four in the bottom half off Drew Anderson, which ended up being the difference. Odubel Herrera was 1-for-3 with a a walk to lead the Philly offense. Philadelphia only had four hits as a team and Williams accounted for the lone extra-base hit. Anderson took the loss as he allowed four earned runs on eight hits with four strikeouts and a walk over five innings. Mets held to two hits New York dropped two out of three games in its home interleague series against the Rays over the weekend, including Sunday's 9-0 thrashing. Brandon Nimmo and Devin Mesoraco were both 1-for-3 with a single to provide the only offense for the Mets. Nimmo also drew a walk. Chris Flexen suffered the loss, giving up five earned runs on five hits with two strikeouts and three walks over three innings. Zach Eflin (7-2, 2.97 ERA) will start Game 1 for Philadelphia, while the Mets will turn to Zack Wheeler (2-6, 4.36). Aaron Nola (11-2, 2.41) starts Game 2 for the Phillies and New York counters with Corey Oswalt (0-1, 7.94). MLB Betting Trends PHiladelphia The Phillies are 6-2 in their last eight road games. The over is 14-5 in Eflin's last 19 road starts. Philadelphia is 26-58 in the last 84 meetings. New York The Mets are 8-24 in their last 32 home games. New York is 18-42 in its last 60 games overall. Prediction: Philadelphia is the much stronger team coming in, but struggled to get anything going yesterday. I think both offenses will bounce back in Game 1 today, while Nola slams the door shut in Game 2. I'd be more inclined to pick a Phillies sweep if it wasn't so hard to win both ends of a doubleheader for a road team, especially traveling in when the Mets remained at home. MLB DAILY PREDICTION: PHILLIES/METS OVER 8 (Game 1) MLB DAILY PREDICTION: PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES -167 (Game 2)<doc-sep>
The Phillies have not had much success at Citi Field in recent seasons, but seeing as how the 2018 Mets are one of the worst teams in baseball, this series felt like a prime opportunity to reverse that. While the Phillies still have three more chances this week to earn wins against the Mets (including another one tonight!) game one of Monday’s doubleheader certainly felt like a wasted opportunity. The starting pitching matchup was a much-hyped (by me) battle of Zack vs. Zach. The Mets’ Zack Wheeler would go against the Phillies’ Zach Eflin, and we’d find out which Zack/Zach reigned supreme in the National League East. Or not, as neither man made it past the fifth inning. The teams spent most of the first four innings exchanging the lead. The Phillies began the scoring when Nick Williams singled home a run in the first, but the Mets quickly answered in the second thanks to a solo homer by Asdrubal Herrera. Rhys Hoskins’ single gave the Phillies another brief lead until the Mets scored two in the third. That only lasted half an inning until Maikel Franco tied it up again with a home run in the fourth. TIE THIS GAME UP, FRANCO His home run evens out the score in the 4th! pic.twitter.com/HOqOV1ck2L — NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) July 9, 2018 The scoring came to a grinding halt once the starters were removed. Going against the sub par Mets’ bullpen for over five innings seems like a great way to score some runs, but the Phillies were unable to do so despite having several good chances. They left two runners on base in the fifth, three more in the eighth, and then another two in the tenth. Meanwhile, the Phillies were forced to use four relievers. While that’s bad enough in game one of a doubleheader, it’s made even worse by the fact that Seranthony Dominguez pitched two innings, likely rendering him unavailable for both the nightcap as well as Tuesday. On the other hand, Victor Arano could probably be used again since he only faced one batter before losing the game. That batter was catcher Wilmer Flores who actually argued that he was hit by a pitch earlier in the at bat. The umpires reviewed the play and determined that the ball did not make contact with him, so he was forced to return to the plate and hit a game-winning home run. UNBELIEVABLE! Wilmer walks it off AGAIN! pic.twitter.com/mm3fNzvgtH — New York Mets (@Mets) July 9, 2018 The Phillies can take solace in the fact that they have Aaron Nola pitching the second game of the doubleheader. Having their ace on the mound seems like a great opportunity to give their bullpen a break, and more importantly, earn a rare win in Citi Field. Let’s hope they don’t let this one pass them by.