Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Phillie-busters!


On Wednesday night, the Mets completed a three-game sweep of the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park, coming from behind to win all three games.  It was the first time the Mets swept the Phillies in Philadelphia since June 13-15, 2006.  With the victory, the Mets improved to 18-13, the first time they've been five games over .500 since July 19, 2010.  Conversely, the Phillies' loss dropped their record to 14-18.  The last time they were four games under .500 was five years ago to the day (May 9, 2007), when they were 15-19.

Before our thoughts turn to the upcoming weekend series against the Miami Marlins, let's look at some other things you may not have known that came to my attention after the Phillie-busting was complete.

The Mets absolutely annihilated the Phillies' bullpen over the three games.  In 7⅓ innings, the Phillies' relievers allowed 14 runs (12 earned) on 13 hits and six walks.  The Mets had not scored as many as 14 runs in any of their last three series against the Phillies, dating back to last year.  Yet they managed to score that many runs in this three-game series solely against the Phillies' bullpen.

By scoring ten runs against the Phillies in the series finale, the Mets achieved a season high in runs scored in a game.  The last time the Mets scored double digit runs in a single game was last September 16 in a 12-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves.  Wednesday's victory was only the second time in their last 81 games that the Mets reached double digits in runs scored.

The Mets outscored the Phillies 22-12 over the three games.  The last time the Mets outscored an opponent by at least ten runs in a three-game series sweep was in 2010, when they swept the Orioles out of Camden Yards by a combined score of 19-6.  Who was the last National League team they accomplished the feat against?  None other than the Philadelphia Phillies during the Mets' memorable three-game shutout sweep at Citi Field from May 25-27, 2010, outscoring them 16-0.

Seven different Mets scored at least one run in Wednesday's finale (Andres Torres, David Wright, Scott Hairston, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Justin Turner, Ike Davis, Dillon Gee) and seven players drove in at least one run (Torres, Daniel Murphy, Wright, Hairston, Turner, Davis, Lucas Duda).  The last time the Mets accomplished this double dip on their way to victory was September 5, 2010, when a whopping 11 players scored at least once and eight players tacked on at least one RBI to their season totals in an 18-5 demolition of the Chicago Cubs.

Finally, Wednesday's game marked the 402nd win for the Mets over the Phillies in their 50-plus years of existence.  It's the most wins they have against any opponent in the major leagues.  Second on the list are the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals franchise, who the Mets have defeated a total of 371 times.  For as good as the Phillies have been over the past half-decade, the Mets have done fairly well against them, going 23-21 over their division rivals over their last 44 games.

By the time the 2012 season comes to a close, the Mets and Phillies might have switched positions in the NL East standings.  But it sure feels good to have the Mets sweep the three-game series in front of their red-clad fans, or the few that were left at the end of Wednesday's series finale.  I guess they couldn't stand to see the Phillie-busting in its entirety.

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