Philadelphia Phillies trounce New York Mets 9-4 to avoid sweep – MLB Update
Philadelphia Phillies overpowered New York Mets 9-4 on Sunday, September 25 to steer clear of a three-game series sweep at Citi Field in New York, after losing the double-header on Saturday, September 24.
After seeing the team lose eight games on the trot and the entire rotation go down at least once, Roy Halladay emerged to win his 19th start of the season. Halladay pitched six scoreless innings for just four hits, bringing his ERA down to 2.35
and reiterating his intent of winning the NL Cy Young Award this year.
"I didn't want it to feel like a spring training start. Everything was where I wanted it to be," Halladay said.
Fielding the regular starting line-up for the first time since clutching the NL East crown, the Phillies competently displayed their appetite for a successful post-season. Hunter Pence unleashed a two-run home-run in the first inning before Ryan Howard added
a run to impose a three-run lead on the Mets as early as the first inning.
Carlos Ruiz and Raul Ibanez added a run each in the second and third inning respectively to send the Mets tattering with a hefty five-run deficit to chase down.
Mike Pelfrey was replaced by D.J. Carrasco after a dreary spell of three innings. Pelfrey leaked nine hits and gave away five runs to lose his 13th start of the season. He said, "I wanted to finish strong and obviously (I) didn't -- furthest thing
from it."
Just when the Mets would have thought that a change would halt the scoring spree, the Phillies unglued Carrasco for four runs to rout any hopes that the Mets might have had of sweeping the series. Halladay’s spell on the other hand, added insult to injury
for the home side.
Mets scored their first run in the seventh inning, right after Halladay’s departure from the mound. Ronny Paulino smashed a two-run home-run in the seventh inning but Charlie Manuel was proactive in removing Antonio Bastardo immediately to keep an upper-hand
in the game.
Manuel said, "I think you see the difference. When you get all of our guys in there, we've got a pretty good line-up.”
Phillies play their first playoff game on Saturday, October 1 and Halladay is scheduled to start. With the regular line-up in shape, it will be interesting to see if the team can replicate this performance.
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