If the last three-plus weeks have proved anything, it’s that the New York Mets are the cure for whatever ails the Philadelphia Phillies. Unfortunately for the Phillies, they’re running out of games against the Mets just as their margin for error in the National League playoff race grows thinner.
The Phillies will look to steady themselves before the All-Star break when they visit the Mets on Friday night in the opener of a three-game series. Vince Velasquez (2-5, 4.73 ERA) is scheduled to take the mound for Philadelphia against New York’s Jacob deGrom (4-7, 3.32 ERA) in a battle of right-handers.
Both teams enter Friday in the midst of extended skids. The Phillies absorbed another series loss Thursday, when they squandered a four-run first-inning lead and fell 12-6 to the host Atlanta Braves. The Mets were off Thursday after missing a chance at a two-game Subway Series sweep Wednesday night, when they lost 5-1 to the visiting New York Yankees.
With the loss Thursday, the Phillies fell into third place in the NL East for the first time this season. At 45-42, Philadelphia is just a half-game out of a wild-card spot, but the club’s recent play doesn’t bode well for remaining in contention.
The series loss to the Braves dropped the Phillies to 1-6 in their last seven series dating to June 10. Philadelphia is just 8-14 in that span, which is tied with the Milwaukee Brewers for the second-worst record in the NL.
“We have work to do,” Phillies manager Gabe Kapler said Thursday night. “We get back to work tomorrow, we turn the page quickly. One game in isolation is not going to kill us. We have to raise our level of play.”
The only team worse than the Phillies and Brewers since June 10? That would be the Mets, who are 7-15 in that span and the only team to lose a series to Philadelphia, which came back from deficits in all four games of a sweep at Citizens Bank Park from June 24-27.
Alas, after Sunday, the Phillies don’t play the Mets again until Aug. 30.
The Mets’ spiral has left them with the second-worst record in the NL (39-48), ahead of only the rebuilding Miami Marlins. But New York continues to insist, publicly and apparently privately, that it is not ready to begin looking toward next season.
“I think every game for us right now, for the rest of the season, is going to be huge for us because of where we’ve put ourself,” manager Mickey Callaway said Wednesday night.
ESPN’s Buster Olney tweeted Thursday afternoon the Mets still “… want to wait a little longer before settling the buy-or-sell question.”
Both Velasquez and deGrom will pitch for the first time since they lost on June 28. That’s when Velasquez allowed four runs over 4 1/3 innings as the Phillies fell 6-2 to the Marlins, and deGrom gave up three runs over six innings as the Mets were beaten 6-2 by the Braves.
Velasquez is 2-4 with a 4.04 ERA in nine career starts against the Mets. DeGrom is 7-1 with a 2.20 ERA in 14 starts against the Phillies.