Phils Take Three In Final Mets Series

This was the last series the Phillies would play versus the Mets and they made the most of it, winning three of four. Ryan Madson blew Saturday's game to prevent the sweep. Overall, the Phillies taking three from a poor team allowed them to keep pace in the NL East as the Marlins and Braves have not given up their fight. The magic number sits at 14.

Friday - Phillies won 4-2: Cole Hamels continued his dominant run as he went 6.2 innings, allowing a run on seven hits and a walk, striking out six. Shane Victorino had three doubles.

Saturday - Mets won 10-9: The Mets jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead but the Phillies scored big, being up 9-5 up to the eighth inning. Brett Myers surrendered three runs in that inning and then Madson gave up a two-out single and then a two-run homer to David Wright to blow the lead and eventually the game.

Sunday #1 - Phillies won 5-4: Ben Francisco and Victorino had home runs each and Kyle Kendrick pitched excellent in his first start since last year, going 7.1 innings and allowing two runs on seven hits and a walk, striking out three. Brad Lidge came in with a three run lead and allowed two, barely getting his 29th save.

Sunday #2 - Phillies won 1-0: Pedro Martinez pitched his finest outing as a Phillie, going eight innings for the first time in about three years. He allowed no runs, six hits, two walks, and struck out seven. The Phillies got the only run in the first when Jimmy Rollins scored off a Chase Utley single. Madson got the save.

Series MVP's:

Shane Victorino: 6-15, 2 runs, 3 doubles, HR, 2 RBI

Chase Utley: 5-13, 3 runs, 2 doubles, HR, 3 RBI

Pedro Martinez: 8 IP, 0 ER/R, 6 H, 2 BB, 7 K

Next Series: Washington Nationals (50-93, 21-50 on road) @ Philadelphia Phillies (82-60, 39-32 at home)

Pitching Probables:

Tuesday: WSH: Mock (3-7, 5.75), PHI: Lee, Cl (13-11, 3.13)

Wednesday: WSH: Hernandez, L (8-10, 5.30), PHI: Blanton (9-7, 4.11)
Thursday: WSH: Martin, J (4-4, 4.29), PHI: Hamels (9-9, 4.21)

Phillies lead the series 12-3 and this is the final match up between the two teams. The Nationals are the worst team in baseball and the Phillies have to use this series to pull away further in the division. There really is no key game to this series. Just beat the Nationals is all they need to focus on.

Washington has actually had a higher team batting average than the Phillies, sitting in 4th place in the NL while the Phillies are 10th. In the runs scored department, the Phillies have climbed to being only two runs shy of retaking their NL lead and the Nats are 7th. The Phillies pitching has been much better, resting at 7th in ERA while the Nats are last in the NL in ERA .

This should be a sweep and it will be a sweep. This is the time where the Phillies should not be worrying about their closer problems and just put teams away.