The Mets had an opportunity this weekend to put the Phillies in a very deep hole, and they came out of the series with one game shaved off their lead. Now two games up with 19 to play, the Mets have played their last regular season games against the Phillies and very much have a battle on their hands for NL East supremacy.

After sweeping the Brewers in Milwaukee, it was more than a little disappointing to come home and drop the first two games to the Phillies, managing to score just two runs in the process. Despite dropping those first two, though, the Mets would still wind up in good shape if they could only win the third game. Johan Santana pitched himself to a 1-0 deficit -- and almost more -- before the Mets came to bat. Aside from a homerun two innings later to Ryan Howard (why does anyone pitch him middle-out?), that first inning was the only real trouble Santana had with the Phillies.

On the other side of the diamond, Cole Hamels was battered around quite a bit through five innings of work. He allowed nine hits and five runs, most of which came courtesy of Carlos Delgado, who had three hits -- two homeruns -- and drove in four. He has no business being an MVP candidate, but he *has* been great over the past ten weeks, and the Mets almost certainly wouldn't be in such a favorable position were it not for Delgado's bat. It's exceedingly rare that a team's fourth-best hitter be named the MVP of the league (Rolls was only the Phillies' third-best hitter when he took home the MVP last year), but fans and media types love a good story, and Delgado is certainly that.

The Mets get another day off before playing two at Shea against the Nationals. The Nats took two-of-three against the Phillies last week, but let's hope they roll over for the Mets.

Big winners: Carlos Delgado, +28.8% WPA, Johan Santana, +16.6% WPA
Big losers: Fernando Tatis, -4.7% WPA, David Wright, -2.6% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Beltran RBI single in 1st, +12.3% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Howard homerun, -9.6% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +23.9%
Total batter WPA: +%26.1
GWRBI: Carlos Delgado

Game Thread Roll Call

Nice job by LOUtheMETfan; his effort in the game thread embiggens us all.