If you had to suffer through ESPN's Joe Morgan and Jon Miller during Sunday night's Phillies game at Shea Stadium, you did hear one thing out of their mouths that held a tiny bit of water. This was the game that Johan Santana was brought to the Mets to win. He didn't fail them.
Neither did Carlos Delgado who found some magical answers in his little notebook that told him the secret to Cole Hamels curveball. Delgado took two of Hamels' helpings deep -- deep! -- into the Flushing night.
Things never really went the Phils way last night. Charlie got tossed early for arguing a catcher interference call on Chris Coste that set things unraveling a bit in the first. On the Phillies radio broadcast, Larry Anderson didn't hold back his complete and utter displeasure with the wretched work done by the boys in blue. It wasn't the Phillies night from the start.
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Cole Hamels was flustered after a tough first inning but never completely unraveled. Ryan Howard took a Johan Santana offering out of the park to the opposite field. Despite one minor hiccup, Johan was rolling all night.
No doubt, it was a very disheartening loss. But all is not lost. At least certainly not yet. The Phils went up to New York and made up one game between the two of them. A year ago at this point in the season the Phils were six games back.
Two games can be overcome. The Mets schedule appears to be a bit easier with the Nats and Braves up next while the Phils face the Fish and the Brewers. Heck, if the Phils can dominate the Brew Crew, they could find themselves in a tight Wild Card race as well.
The Wild Card is a last resort. The Phils should still be shooting to defend their division crown. Two games can be overcome. As Charlie said, “We got to make up two games in 19. If we want to win, we got to get three games somehow. We can do that.”
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