Phillies 7, Mets 5: Bullpen Brings Kerosene To Five Alarm Fire

Actually, this title doesn't make much sense. More like: Bullpen starts fire in otherwise peaceful forest, spreads it with flamethrowers and shoots down helicopters attempting to dump water on the flames.

The Mets held a slim 2-1 lead entering the bottom of the eighth inning. Eleven Phillie batters, seven hits and six runs later, the Mets trailed 7-2, thanks mostly to the LOLpen. Bobby Parnell endured his second meltdown in a week, failing to record an out while allowing four straight base hits. Here is Captain Fastball's strike zone plot:

(Click to embiggen)

The velocity was there -- Parnell was pumping 99 mph heat. Unfortunately his location was suspect. Even the Phillies' JV lineup is capable of making solid contact against a fireballer throwing meatballs. Pedro Feliciano was also ineffective -- he walked in a run and allowed three baserunners in just one third of an inning. New Phillie Mike Sweeney had two hits in that eighth inning and made a nifty play to rob Carlos Beltran of a hit in the top half of the frame. Sweeney is 37 years old and had played all of 25 innings in the field for the Mariners this season. Naturally he comes to Philly and plays like it's the year 2000.

A gutty effort from Jon Niese (seven innings, four hits, one run, seven strikeouts) went to waste. I say gutty because he walked five and looked shaky at times, but still managed to give his team a great chance to win. Unfortunately, the lineup did nothing against Joe Blanton, he of the 5.86 ERA.

Mike Hessman bashed a three-run homer off J.C. Romero in the ninth inning, his first as a Met, but it was for naught. The image of Romero pointing to the sky as if Hessman's bomb was a can o'corn almost made tuning in worthwhile. Hessman owns you, J.C. Hopefully the big guy gets some more playing time. He's capable in the infield and outfield corners.

David Wright's ninth inning strikeout against Danys Baez was depressing. David took all five pitches he saw, including three fastballs in the heart of the strike zone. Baez has been one of the worst pitchers in baseball this season (5.63 FIP, 1.0 K:BB). I wonder if David went back to the hotel and sat in his room alone in the dark, as Ron Darling discussed tonight.

The Phillies have a 12-game winning streak at home. Johan Santana will try to end the streak tomorrow night at 7:05 against Cole Hamels.

Poem by Howard Megdal

For seven, we believed again thanks to Niese
But eighth-inning 'pen made optimism cease
We're used to healthy Phils beating Mets on the course
Tonight, they got lapped by a one-legged horse

SB Nation Coverage

* Traditional Recap
* Boxscore
* Amazin' Avenue Gamethread
* The Good Phight Gamethread

Win Probability Added

Big winners: Jon Niese +39.7% (as pitcher), Josh Thole +6.9%
Big losers: Bobby Parnell -59.4%, Carlos Beltran -11.9%
Teh aw3s0mest play: Josh Thole +11.2%
Teh sux0rest play: Jayson Werth -23.0%
Total pitcher WPA: -27.8%
Total batter WPA: -22.2%
GWRBI!: Placido Polanco

Game Thread Roll Call

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