Phillies 8 – Mets 7
PHILADELPHIA – Mike Piazza can’t do it all, but sometimes you get the feeling the Mets wait for him to.
The All-Star catcher hit three-run homers in the sixth and seventh innings last night, and each time Met pitchers blew a lead. Piazza’s shots, his 16th and 17th of the season, couldn’t prevent a disastrous 8-7 loss lowlighted by an ineffective bullpen.
Jose Mesa struck out Piazza to end the game with the tying run on first, earning his 22nd save by coming back from a 3-and-0 count. The Mets (41-42) lost two of three to drop their third straight series.
Starter Jeff D’Amico squandered a 4-1 lead without recording an out in the sixth, and relievers David Weathers, Jaime Cerda and Scott Strickland all were charged for runs. Strickland (6-5) took the loss after allowing a two-out double to Ricky Ledee in the eighth, and Mark Guthrie’s first pitch resulted in the go-ahead RBI single by All-Star shortstop Jimmy Rollins.
Everybody knows it shouldn’t have taken 83 games for Piazza and Mo Vaughn to hit back-to-back homers. Last Saturday was the first time the two sluggers even went deep in the same game, but their consecutive home runs off Phillies starter Randy Wolf with one out in the sixth gave the Mets a 4-1 edge and looked to carry the team to victory.
Then the pitching caved in, like everybody thought it would back in the winter. D’Amico surrendered three runs and left with the score tied 4-4. Weathers made the unbearable 96-degree weather and Vet setting even more uncomfortable by allowing two more earned runs.
Philadelphia batted around during a five-run sixth and was buoyed by back-to-back jacks from Bobby Abreu (two-run) and Pat Burrell (solo) that tied the game. Philly went ahead 6-4 on an RBI double by Marlon Anderson and an RBI single by pinch-hitter Doug Glanville.
Piazza’s first shot was a rocket to left-center, but it couldn’t have been as clutch as it was had D’Amico not singled to left leading off the inning. It was his third hit in 29 at-bats, and Roger Cedeno followed with a single and Edgardo Alfonzo flew out.
Piazza stepped to the plate as most of the 50,396 fans at the Vet booed the Norristown, Pa., native. The catcher already had a scowl on his face, and he didn’t take a strike as he normally does. He smashed the first offering Wolf threw into the seats, pausing to watch it before trotting around the bases.
Piazza’s father, Vince, was sitting in the third-base seats. Piazza pointed to him with his right arm as he rounded third.
In the seventh, Cedeno and Alfonzo managed two-out hits to left. Piazza watched two balls miss way low and outside before reliever Carlos Silva surprisingly came inside with a called strike. Piazza stepped back in and lined a low and outside pitch into the Phillies bullpen in right. The ball just cleared the fence, but it gave the Mets a 7-6 lead.
