In the third of our season long series “The View from the Philly Pressbox” takes a look at the New York Mets series. Quite frankly the Mets are awful. If it weren’t for John Buck hitting a home run in each of the three games the Mets would’ve shown nothing. If Roy Halladay would’ve been able to find the strike zone the Phils should’ve had a much needed sweep. In the end the Phils won 2 of 3 and move their record to 4-5, 4 games behind the red hot Atlanta Braves, 8-1.

The bright spots of the Mets series:

• You have to start with Cliff Lee. Two consecutive times Lee has had to be the stopper after miserable outings by Halladay and Cole Hamels. Each time Lee has done the job. Against the Mets he threw 8.2 innings, allowing 8 hits, 3 runs, 2 earned runs, 0 walks and 6 k’s. Lee lowered his ERA to 1.08. Lee has also not walked a batter in his 16.2 innings of work while Hamels and Halladay can’t find the strike zone. Lee also threw first pitch strikes to 27 of 34 hitters he faced.
• The Phils again spotted Kyle Kendrick a huge lead, 4 runs in his first outing and 5 runs against the Mets. Although Kendrick struggled some he held on to get the win going 6 innings, allowing 8 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks and 6 k’s. Antonio Bastardo, Michael Adams and Jonathan Papelbon allowed 1 run in 3 innings of relief.
• In spite of Halladays struggles in Game 1 of the series the bullpen of Chad Durbin, Jeremy Horst and Raul Valdez combined for 5 innings of shutout relief, allowing just 3 hits and 2 walks.
• Michael Young had a 5-11 series with his first HR as a Phillie. Young raised his average to a team high .375.
• Chase Utley continues to swing the bat well. Utley was only 2-10 in the series but did hit a HR, drove in a couple runs and stole 2 bases. He’s presently hitting .333 with a team high 9 RBI’s.
• Jimmy Rollins had 4 more hits in the series in 12 at bats, raising his average back up to .316.
• The Phils scored 17 runs in the 3 game series, 5.6 runs per game.

Areas to improve:

• As mentioned earlier, Roy Halladay struggled immensely against the weak hitting Mets. Halladay threw 99 pitches just to get through 4 innings allowing 6 hits, 7 runs, 3 walks and a home run while striking out 3. A telling statistic to Halladays troubles were first pitch strikes, he threw just 11 to the 22 batters he faced. A second telling statistic was he was only able to get 10 swinging strikes, while the Mets fouled off 21 strikes. He had trouble getting the ball by the hitters.
• The Phils were only able to collect 4 hits off Mets pitchers Matt Harvey and Josh Edgin in the 7-2 loss on Monday.
• The Phils have struck out 79 times in 9 games, 8.8 per game. This ranks 4^th in the NL.
• Although Hamels didn’t pitch in the Mets series it’s imperative that he and Halladay get things turned around. They will both have an opportunity to pitch this weekend against the Marlins.
• Ryan Howard went 3-11 against the Mets but is still hitting just .200 with 12 k’s in 9 games.
• Ben Revere is struggling hs well. Revere is hitting just .211 with an OBP of just .268 from the leadoff spot.
• Dom Browns average has dropped all the way to .242. He seems to be losing some of that Spring Training hot that he had. Brown has to hit to stay in the lineup.

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Tags: Chae Utley, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Jimmy Rollins, Michael Young, Philadelphia Phillies, Roy Halladay, Ryan Howard