Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs Drop Series Finale to Mets

Looking at the line-up for this afternoon’s game, one was surprised by the number of players that do not really belong on the card for a major league baseball game.  The infield was comprised of Dane Sardinha, John Mayberry Jr., Wilson Valdez, Jimmy Rollins and Placido Polanco.  Over fifty percent of the infield has no business starting.

The outfield was comprised of Raul Ibanez, Michael Martinez and Ben Fransisco.  With the addition of Vance Worley as the starting pitcher, three of the nine players the Phils sent out this afternoon were actually starters in the major leagues last season.  This did not imbue one with any confidence as John Niese threw baseballs at these marginal major leaguers.

To the surprise of no one, Niese handled the Phillies b-team line-up by allowing one unearned run and striking out six over his six 1/3 innings of work.  He walked four and did not look especially sharp, but was repeatedly left off the hook by the Phillies.  They were 3-14 with men in scoring position including stranding the bases loaded in the top of the third.  This was certainly a frustrating loss to a below average major league pitcher.

Vance Worley get shelled today.  He has pitched well versus the Mets in his young career, but there were zero positives to glean from today’s appearance.  Worley allowed four runs in the first and second innings and allowed twelve hits in his three innings of work.  He may have escaped the first innings only allowing one run, but some shaky defense from Jimmy Rollins allowed the inning to continue.  Worley could not stop the bleeding and ended up having the worst outing of his career.

This game is also another reason to hate Jose Reyes.  He went 4-5 with two triples, an RBI and a run scored.  I can only respond to him by shaking with rage and blacking out.

The Phillies mounted something of a comeback, but came up short in their attempt for a third straight dismantling of the Met’s pen.  Raul Ibanez stayed hot by blasting a second deck home run, Domonic Brown just missed a home run and Jimmy Rollins went 2-4.  After Worley got yanked, Kyle Kendrick threw three effective innings of relief.  The Phils pulled to 9-5, but John Mayberry Jr. struck out to end the game.

Tomorrow, Roy Halladay looks to continue his dominance against the Washington Nationals who counter with Livan Hernandez.  Doesn’t it feel better to send Doc to the mound after a poor pitching performance?  It certainly beats sending out Brandon Duckworth.