Friendly Shea Next

Offensive puzzle continued yesterday and resulted in an extra-inning loss at the Marlins.  Cole, despite not having his “A” fast ball, still pitched exceptionally well, the sign of a very good pitcher.

Hate to keep going back to the unlucky Friday the 13th in June, but, since we scored 20 runs that night in St. Louis, the offense hasn’t been the same.  Scott Lauber in the Wilmington News-Journal today points out that we have been held to four or fewer runs in 20 of the last 30 games, the 30th game being June 14.  During the 30 games, we are hitting .212 with runners in scoring position.  No wonder Manuel went off after yesterday’s 3-2 loss in which 10 runners were left on base.

Two out of three is a huge key to winning a championship..  We missed that opportunity yesterday but it is over and needs to be forgotten.  Time to focus on three in friendly Shea Stadium starting tomorrow night.

Lefty vs. Lefty
The Mets have four lefties in their bullpen.  Wonder how many times they will be called on to face Chase and Ryan in these next three games. 

Comment Corner
The following was posted on Phillies Insider last week: “I was checking out your Phillies blogs and thought you and your readers might be interested to know that Phillies reliever Chad Durbin has his own blog:”
http://www.prolebrity.com/give-me-a-break/#more-311

Players of the Week
Lakewood teammates, RHP Jared Simon and OF T. J. Warren are the Phillies minor league pitcher and player of the week, respectively.

Check out their numbers: http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/phi/downloads/y2008/071908.pdf