Mets 60-66 vs Phillies 81-44 Preview

Dillon Gee 11-4, 3.92 ERA

Cliff Lee 13-7, 2.82 ERA

Mets Monday lineup at Philadelphia: Pagan-CF, Turner-2B, Wright-3B, Bay-LF, Duda-1B, Hairston-RF, Paulino-C, Tejada-SS, Gee-RHPless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyNew York Mets
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The Mets are 2-4 at Philadelphia in 2011. Dillon Gee will probably need to pitch better in order for the Mets to overcome Lee and avoid a fourth straight loss after being swept at home by Milwaukee. The Mets had just six hits in Sunday’s 6-2 defeat and it was their 15th loss in 20 games. “It’s pretty tough right now,” manager Terry Collins said.

If the Mets plan to salvage the season to at least finish at .500 they will probably need to play their best baseball of the season in the series against the Phillies. The Mets are just 2-8 in their last 10 games, falling 6 games under .500 for the season. The Mets face a red hot Phillies team, who is on pace to have over 100 wins this season. A sweep is probably unlikely to come for the Mets during their 3-game series in Philadelphia but two out of three could seem reasonable against the Phillies who own the best record in baseball. In his last 10 games, Lucas Duda is 9-for-34 (.265) with three homeruns and 9RBIs in that span. Since Beltran was traded to the Giants, Duda has stepped up in the role the Mets hoped he could fill. Jonathon Niese and Mike Pelfrey will follow Gee in this series against Philadelpha, in hopes for a series win or sweep if its possible for the Mets to overcome the offense power and pitching strength of the Phillies.   

Dillon Gee:

• 2-1, 4.77 ERA, 28.1IP 27H 15ER 15BB 20K 5HRs (Last 5 Games) 
• Away (This Year) - 6-2, 4.41 ERA, 65.1IP 58H 32ER 27BB 44K 4HRs .239BAA (11 Starts)
• Career vs Phillies - 1-0, 6.23 ERA, 8.2IP 6H 6ER 4BB 6K 2HRs .194BAA (2 Games, 1 Start)

Cliff Lee:

• 4-1, 2.78 ERA, 35.2IP 32H 11ER 7BB 41K (Last 5 Games)
• Home (This Year) - 9-2, 2.28 ERA, 102.2IP 83H 26ER 21BB 109K 6HRs .220BAA (14 Starts)
• Career vs Mets - 1-0, 0.64ERA, 14.0IP 14H 1ER 2BB 10K .264BAA (2 Starts)

In Case You Missed It:

• Jon Niese was given an extra day of rest, with the Mets flip-flopping their rotation to give him a breather. Niese, who was originally scheduled for Monday against the Phillies, was moved to Tuesday. Dillon Gee gets the start today.
• Lucas Duda knocked a two-run homer Sunday, accounting for all of the Mets runs. Duda has six homers on the season, all coming since June 30.
• Angel Pagan had a pair of hits Sunday, giving him multiple hits in six of his last seven games. In that span he has gone 15-for-32 (.469) and has reached base in his last 17 games.
• Jose Reyes continued to progress in his rehab from his left hamstring injury, running on the field before Sunday's game, and manager Terry Collins said in his pre-game press conference Reyes would run the bases the next few days and could do a couple of rehab assignments at Binghamton (Double-A Affilate) or Buffalo (Triple-A Affiliate) at the end of the week.  
• Mets all-time record against the Phillies 394-455 (.464)

Quoted by Terry Collins - "I'm very concerned about the players right now, just with the way that things have gone the past couple of weeks. When Jose Reyes and Daniel Murphy went down, we had to pick ourselves up, and we have failed to do that. Our fans have stuck by us. We've played hard. We will continue to play hard. That will not be a factor. That will not be an issue. But we certainly have not played well enough to win."

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