The New York Mets have made enemies out of the formerly last place Philadelphia Phillies. The Phils have taken 7 out of their last 7 games against the pride of Queens, New York. Today the Mets lost 5-3, in a game that dragged on for three hours and 43 minutes. Pedro Martinez took the hill for the Mets, and continued his string of good starts since returning from the disabled list. He threw 6 innings, gave up just one hit and struck out 9. His counterpart, trade deadline acquisition Kyle Lohse was shaky through 5 innings. He threw 112 pitches, just 64 for strikes. Lohse also gave up the only three runs the Mets would score today. So how did the Mets lose this game? Journeyman flame thrower Kane Davis came on to walk 3 batters in a row. One of which, Ruben Gotay, was thrown out stealing second. And with MVP candidate David Wright at the dish with runners on first and second, Jose Reyes got greedy and was thrown out attempting to steal third. So Davis walked three batters in his scoreless frame and retired just one hitter. Go figure. Phillies manager Charlie Manuel used 5 relievers, none of whom gave up a run. The Mets bullpen would give up 4 runs overall. Primarily at fault for the loss are Carlos Beltran, who misplayed a Jimmy Rollins triple allowing 2 runs to cross the dish, and manager Willie Randolph for trying to etch an extra inning out of tired reliever Pedro Feliciano, who threw a meatball to Aaron Rowand that would go for a solo shot.

In my humble opinion, this game was over before it started. It was said that before the game the Phillies all were wearing big grins, and there was a general positive confident vibe in their clubhouse. And why shouldn’t they have? They were playing the part of the hungry team with nothing to lose. The Mets have everything to lose. Their lead shrinks to just 4.5 games after this loss. Is it unlikely that the Phillies will win the division at this point of the season? Of course. But you never know what could happen in this game, if the Phillies put together a remarkable run, then the Mets could find themselves looking for a way to play ball in October. The Mets go in full defensive mode tomorrow, in a must win situation. We’ll see the true makeup of this team when their backs are against the wall.