In his final start of the 2012 season, Matt Harvey pitched the type of game Mets fans have come to expect from him. David Wright followed it up with a tie-breaking home run in the sixth and for a few brief hours in another lost September, Mets fans got a pretty great glimpse of what the future could look like.
But one big blast from a long-time nemesis brought reality screeching back.
Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard launched a two-out, two-run home run in the top of the ninth and the Mets had no ninth inning retort in a 3-2 loss at Citi Field. The loss was New York’s fourth straight and 12th in their last 14 games. It also locked the Mets into their fourth consecutive losing season.
The good news of course, is that the late-inning nonsense can’t take away the body of work for Harvey, who was brilliant in his last start of the season. The rookie allowed just one run on one hit with seven strikeouts and three walks over three dominant innings.
The only hit for Philly against Harvey was a leadoff home run by Jimmy Rollins that put Philadelphia in front 1-0 from the outset. But Harvey settled in from there, retiring 12 in a row after a leadoff walk to Carlos Ruiz started the second. Over those four innings, Harvey struck out four, including Phillies prospect Domonic Brown twice.
The Mets broke even in the bottom half of the third when Ruben Tejada smacked a two-out single to left. Tejada went on to steal second base, just his third steal of the season. Daniel Murphy followed with a single to left and Tejada scored from second easily on the weak arm of Juan Pierre.
From there it was an old-fashioned pitcher’s duel with both Harvey and Hamels tossing up scoreless innings. The Mets threatened in the fourth when Scott Hairston led off with a double. Ike Davis then lined one off Hamels’ glove and into no man’s land to put runners on first and second with no one out. But Hamels buckled down to strike out Kelly Shoppach and Lucas Duda, and Andres Torres flew out to end the inning.
After a quick fifth on both sides, Harvey had some trouble to overcome in the sixth when he sandwiched walks of Kevin Frandsen and Rollins around a strikeout of Hamels. It looked as though the rookie righty had just about hit his limit, but Terry Collins gave him the chance to get out of his own jam.
Harvey rewarded his manager’s faith by inducing a hard grounder to second that Daniel Murphy and Ruben Tejada turned into their second double play of the night to end the inning. David Wright then rewarded the rookie with a lead when he launched a 1-0 pitch to right-center for a tie-breaking home run leading off the bottom of the sixth.
Collins sent Harvey back out for the seventh — his final inning of the season — and the rookie showed no signs of slowing down. His first batter was notorious Met-killer Chase Utley, but Harvey got him to ground to second for the first out. He followed by blowing one by Howard at 97 MPH for the second out and then caught Carlos Ruiz looking at a 96 MPH heater on the outside corner to end the inning.
Bobby Parnell kept the ball rolling with a scoreless eighth and Edgin struck out the first two in the ninth. He then battled with Utley, pulling to within one strike of his first career save, but couldn’t put him away and Utley worked an eight-pitch walk. Howard came up next and watched a first pitch slider, then unfurled on a middle-in fastball that didn’t land until after it had smashed off the facing of the Pepsi Porch in right field to give the Phillies a 3-2 lead.
The Mets put a man on in the ninth against Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon on a one-out single by Tejada, his third hit of the game. But Murphy was robbed of an extra-base hit into the left field corner on a diving grab by Brown and Wright grounded out to Utley to end the game.
Game Ball: Too easy. Matt Harvey finished off his rookie season on a great note. He ends his 2012 campaign with a 2.73 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and .200 BAA with 70 strikeouts against 26 walks and 18 earned runs on 42 hits in 59.1 innings.
Turning Point: The Phillies were down to their final strike in the ninth, but Chase Utley worked out a walk and Ryan Howard followed with a two-run homer to give Philadelphia the lead for good.
Next Up: The Mets and Phillies finish this three game series on Thursday night at Citi Field in a makeup of Tuesday’s rainout, on what was originally scheduled as an off day for both teams. The Mets will send Jeremy Hefner (2-6, 4.99 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 48 K) to the mound looking to salvage the finale. Hefner will be opposed by Philadelphia’s Tyler Cloyd (1-1, 4.95 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 20 K). First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. and the game can be seen on SNY or heard, as always on WFAN 660 AM.
