David Wright and Matt Harvey Lead Mets to 8-0 Beatdown Over Phils in Series Finale

After Kevin Frandsen erased Jonathan Papelbon’s blown save with a walk-off homerun yesterday, the Phillies sent John Lannan to the mound Sunday. As the Phillies looked to take two of three in the series, the Mets countered with NL Cy Young candidate Matt Harvey.

Things started off well for the Mets in the first, as former Phillie Marlon Byrd flew out to left, just deep enough to score the newly acquired Eric Young Jr. It was a rough way for Lannan to start, but after allowing a first inning run, Lannan settled in for three straight scoreless innings. The problem? Matt Harvey, as he has been all season, was locked in for the Mets from the word go.

Harvey went six innings today for the Mets, only allowing two hits. Certainly, the Phillies lineup has been friendly to pitchers this year, but Matt Harvey having the ability to throw a dirty curveball and a fastball that tops out at 100 doesn’t hurt either. Still, through four innings the Phillies were locked into a 1-0 pitchers duel. And then the top of the fifth happened.

The top of the fifth had a rather pedestrian start. Juan Lagares flew out to Ben Revere, who made the catch and the camera went off of Revere. Just as Tom McCarthy was saying one out in the fifth, Lagares flashed across the screen still running all out, and ending up at third with a triple. As it turned out, Revere caught the ball and took a step or two, before lazily taking his eyes off the ball when pulling it out of his glove. As he reached to throw the ball into second, he dropped the ball, and second base umpire D.J. Reyburn ruled that Revere dropped the ball during the exchange and Lagares was safe. It was a by the stickler call by Reyburn that technically followed the rulebook, but common sense said the Revere caught the ball and dropped it on pure laziness. Nonetheless, you have to give a ton of credit to Lagares for hustling enough to get to third on the play, because his heads-up play started off a huge inning for the Mets.

Matt Harvey, yeah it was that kind of day, doubled to right which scored Lagares to put the Mets up 2-0. Eric Young Jr. continued his big day, doubling to left-center to score Harvey and make it a 3-0 lead. And David Wright hit his second double of the day off the wall in right, which plated Young, and made it a 4-0 lead after five.

June 23, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; New York Mets pitcher Matt Harvey (33) celebrates scoring with third baseman David Wright (5) during the fifth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

In the sixth the Mets added two more runs off of Joe Savery. Lagares continued a big day doubling to right, which brought home Josh Satin. And Omar Quintanilla then hit a sac fly to score John Buck and make it a 6-0 game.

After the Phillies went hitless in the the bottom half of the sixth, there was a rain delay, as a passing shower caused crew chief Fielden Culbreth to stop the game. The delay was short live, as the game picked up after just 21 minutes.

While Harvey was done after the delay, the Mets bats weren’t. Marlon Byrd hit one of the Mets seven doubles in the seventh to score David Wright and make it a 7-0 lead. And Wright, making a strong bid to go to another All-Star game, finished off the scoring with his 12th bomb of the year off of Jake Diekman in the ninth inning. That made the lead 8-0, which ended up being the final score as Brandon Lyon finished the game off for the Mets in the bottom of the ninth.

The Mets doubled seven times today, which is flat out embarrassing. David Wright had two of those doubles, and finished just a single away from the cycle, going four for five today. And Matt Harvey reminded us why the Mets are going to become a scary team over the next few years, picking up his seventh win of the year, and dropping his ERA to a mere 2.05 for the season.

The Phillies finished with just four hits on the day, and dropped the series to the Mets. With the loss the Phillies fall four games under .500 with 36-40 record. Selling at the deadline is beginning to look like a matter of when, not if.