Mets once again took Phillies out of the crosshairs with Devin Williams meltdown

The Philadelphia Phillies had been on a remarkable turnaround since Don Mattingly took the reins. The club won six straight series before welcoming a pair of Ohio teams to the City of Brotherly Love. The Cincinnati Reds came in and took two out of three last week, setting the scene for a weekend matchup with the Cleveland Guardians that had the Phillies looking to get back on track.

Cleveland's pitching staff figured to be a tough test, coming into the series with an eighth-ranked 3.67 ERA. It proved to be just that, holding down Philadelphia's uneven lineup to just four runs over the three-game set, taking the loss in two of the contests.

That's worthy of some criticism, for sure, but the Phillies might be spared the brunt of the embarrassment thanks to the ineptitude of their NL East brethren over in Queens.

The Mets' continued failures have allowed the Phillies' issues to fly under the radar

So while the Phillies were struggling to get anything on the board against the Guardians, the Mets were down in Miami getting owned by the Marlins. New York dropped the first two games, scoring one run in each contest, but looked to salvage a victory in the series finale on May 24.

Tied 0-0 in the bottom of the ninth, New York called upon Devin Williams. Williams gave up a double to Christopher Morel, who would then advance to third on a sac bunt. He then walked Liam Hicks and then intentionally walked Xavier Edwards to face Heriberto Hernandez with one out and the bases loaded.

Hernandez entered the game hitting a putrid .174/.273/.233 with just one homer on the year. Williams continued to prove that the dominance from his Milwaukee Brewers days was another lifetime ago as he grooved an 0-1 changeup down the heart of the plate and then turned and watched as Hernandez deposited it over the fence in dead center for a walk-off grand slam.

Williams meltdown was just the latest in a ridiculous list of Mets' embarrassments in recent days. On May 19, they put together a hysterically bad defensive showing against the Washington Nationals that would make the Bad News Bears blush, blowing a five-run lead in the process and then getting shown up by former Met reliever Richard Lovelady, who closed out the game.

So while the Phillies still have their issues to work out, they are making strides. Donny Baseball has them playing with more urgency. Zack Wheeler's return has the rotation looking formidable again. They have a lot of work to do, and can't have their bats go as silent as they did against Cleveland.

But Philadelphia is also moving in the right direction, while the Mets plummet further and further, wondering if they'll ever reach rock bottom. We can't get too giddy until the Phils prove they can consistently take care of business and make a run at the Atlanta Braves, but we can be thankful that the team isn't a clown car of sadness like the Mets are.

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