Phillies, Halladay Punish Mets

The Phillies picked up a solid win tonight, shutting out the Mets 4-0. The Phils were lead by the magnificent pitching of one Roy Halladay. The offense didn't exactly break out tonight, just edged along enough to get the Phillies the win.

Let's start with Halladay. He pitched 8 innings, gave up 4 hits, and struck out 7. And no runs, of course. An example of Halladay's dominance came in the bottom of the 4th. Jose Reyes hit a triple to lead off the inning. At that point, with the Phillies up just a run, I thought the game would be tied before long. After a ground out from Pagan, Halladay struck out both David Wright and Carlos Beltran.

The Phillies pushed across the first run of the game in the 3rd, when Halladay scored on a single by Placido Polanco. That run was the only earned run given up in the game. The second run scored on a throwing error by Ruben Tejada.

The third and fourth runs came on an inexcusable error from third baseman David Wright. A Jimmy Rollins grounder was hit directly at Wright, who proceed to boggle the mind by letting the ball go through his legs. It is a play any pro third baseman is supposed to make.

Another embarrassing error was made by Shane Victorino in the 6th inning. Victorino attempted to field a bloop single on one hop. Notice the emphasis on "attempted." Victorino lazily let the ball go under his glove, leaving it to Raul Ibanez to run over from left. Pagan, who hit the blooper, advanced to second on the play.

That play did not hurt the Phillies this time, but that it not an acceptable play in a pennant race. While it is commonplace for the Mets to make those errors, the 2-time defending NL champs can't be pulling that crap. Victorino has been horrible defensively all year, and I would bench him for a game or two if I was Charlie.

The Phillies are now only two games back of the Atlanta Braves in the division, and one game back in the Wild Card. The Phillies should be focused on the division, and use the Wild Card as only a fall back option. Tomorrow's game at Citi Field is a 8:05pm ET start. Kyle Kendrick will be facing off against the Mets' Mike Pelfrey.