Phillies fans are ready to defend themselves against the slings and arrows Mets fans will be sending in their direction after Wednesday night's 10-6 victory finished off a sweep of the NL East's recent power.
They'll point out that Ryan Howard and Chase Utley aren't in the lineup, leaving the offense in need of a MacGyver-type figure who can generate runs out of coffee grounds, discarded lottery tickets and Charlie Manuel's belt.
Cliff Lee, scourge of all hitters and Wednesday night's starter, was on a strict pitch count which meant that the Phillies had to turn back to their putrid bullpen with the game still in doubt.
Break out the world's smallest violin and play the Phillies a tune. Those are problems, to be sure, but did you see the lineup the Mets trotted out for the series finale?
Vinny Rottino in left field, Scott Hairston in right field, Rob Johnson at catcher and Justin Turner playing shortstop while Dillon Gee made the start. It's not exactly a lineup card that will be headed to a Cooperstown exhibit honoring the greatest teams in baseball history, so complaints about the state of the Phillies are really best left in a different box.
The rally came in the seventh inning with the Mets trailing 4-2 and it had a lot in common with other late bursts of life that we've seen from them this season. They got plenty of help from the Phillies' outfield defense as they misplayed two straight hits into doubles, one of which was off the bat of the very needy Ike Davis, and wound up scoring three runs to grab the lead.
As with the rally on Tuesday night, once the Mets got rolling you just got the feeling that things were winding up with them on the right side of the final score. It seems the fates agreed with that assessment as Lucas Duda wound up tying the game when he got hit by a pitch to tie the score.
Davis would return with another big blow in the eighth inning, a three-run homer that totally broke the game open and sent the Mets on their way to a cathartic sweep.
Getting Davis going offensively would make the Mets a lot more likely to keep up their winning ways and there are worse ways to get off the skid than a couple of extra-base hits in the late innings of a win that crushes the morale of a great enemy.
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It's the first road sweep of the Phils since 2006, which was the last time that the Phillies didn't win the division. It was also the last time the Mets did win the division.
Omen or coincidence?
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City. You can follow him on Twitter and he is also a contributor to Pro Football Talk.
