Welcome to the Big Leagues: Mets 3, Phillies 2

The Phillies continued their dreadful year against the NL East, falling to the Mets 3-2. This season, the Phils are 19-31 against their fellow NL Easterners, and a putrid 1-7 against the Mets at home.

Tonight, Tyler Cloyd stepped in for the gastrointestinally distressed Cole Hamels. This probably wasn't the debut that Cloyd imagined when he would daydream about his first game in the majors. But this is the one he got. And despite his new teammates' inability to score a run or even get a hit off of Josh Edgin, Robert Carson, Jon Rauch, and Frank Francisco, Cloyd didn't do too badly in his first major league start. Over six innings, he gave up three runs on seven hits. He walked two and struck out five. He was really hittable in the early going, but after giving up a two-run home run to Lucas "oh the" Duda "day" (a homer that would end up winning the game for the Mets), he settled into a groove. By the end of the fifth he'd sat down eight Mets in a row with plenty of infield pop-ups to go around. Plus, he had Mets pitcher Matt Harvey pretty confused. In his two at bats tonight, Cloyd saw nine pitches -- eight of them were balls.

Whatever the Phillies bullpen was last night, tonight they were the opposite. Cloyd left the game after six innings, and the bullpen gave up just one hit and one walk over the next three. Jeremy Horst continued to dazzle (me at least), pitching a hitless seventh inning which brought his ERA down to 0.92. Aumont came on to pitch the eighth after Antonio Bastardo gave up a single to Lucas Duda, and can I just say that good sweet Lord is Aumont ever tall. I don't think that's ever not going to shock me. I'm just over five feet tall and I'd be afraid to walk past him lest he accidentally stomp on me on his way up the beanstalk. He's a massive dude, but he can really throw a baseball. He hit 98 on the gun a few times tonight and struck out two while allowing a walk. Josh Lindblom kept the Mets at bay in the ninth, only to have the Phillies waste a rare non-disastrous Lindblom appearance.

Coming into tonight Robert Carson had an ERA over 5, and Frank Francisco had an ERA over 6. Those are true facts. And yet they and the rest of the Mets bullpen kept the Phillies hitless after Harvey left in the seventh. It wasn't all bad, though. Chase Utley was hit by a pitch and went 1-for-3 -- he's hitting .255 now as his average continues to climb north, north towards freedom. More good news: Juan Pierre is desperately trying to break out of his slump, and he may actually be doing it. He went 2-for-4 and bumped his average back up to the .300 mark. Jimmy Rollins had a hit and an RBI, and Ryan Howard sacrificed home the Phillies other run. Erik Kratz went hitless tonight, and he's sliding a bit. He's just two for his last eighteen, and his average has fallen to .276. I miss Chooch.

Here are some fun facts: in the eighth inning, the Phillies have given up more earned runs, walks, and homers than any other team in baseball.

Oh wait, those aren't fun facts. Those are the opposite. Here's the Fangraph, which I have titled "The Opposite Of Fun."

Source: FanGraphs