Time to Turn Out the Lights? Mets Ship Continues to Sink

Phillies 11 Mets 3 (Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA)

Mets record: 76-70

Mets streak: Lost 5

L10 3-7

WP - Cristopher Sanchez (13-5)

LP - Clay Holmes (11-8)

Seat on the Korner: Max Kepler

We select the star of the game and virtually invite him to a Seat on the Korner, just as Ralph Kiner used to do for his studio postgame show on WOR-channel 9 broadcasts in the early decades of the Mets.

Harrison Bader (see below) isn't the only questionable batter who killed the Mets. Max Kepler, hitting .221, went three-for-four, with a home run and five RBI. Like Bader, Kepler has been hot of late: he was slashing .282/.333/.507 in his last 19 games and his 12 game winning RBI are second on the team, behind only Kyle Schwarber. A perfect opportunity to offer the seat to someone who normally wouldn't get it.

Need to Know

• The loss was the Mets' fifth straight and their sixth in the past seven.

• The loss dropped the Mets to 10 games behind the Phillies, but....

• They remained two games ahead of the San Francisco Giants for the final wild card spot, after the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Giants, 5-3.

• Since 2023, the Mets are 4-14 against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park and have yet to win a series there over that span.

• Cedric Mullins snapped his 0-for-26 streak with a single in the ninth. Just letting you know, in case you switched your television to Penn and Teller: Fool Us or Gomer Pyle USMC reruns and missed the event.

• Mark Vientos, with an 11-game hitting streak against the Phillies, including a home run Tuesday night, was moved up to third in the batting order against the left hander Cristopher Sanchez. Vientos went 0-for-three.

• The series ends Thursday with David Peterson taking the mound for the Mets against Jesus Luzardo. But more interesting is the announced rotation for the weekend games against the Texas Rangers at Citi Field: the three rookies in succession, starting with Jonah Tong (against Jacob DeGrom), followed by Brandon Sproat and Nolan McLean).

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Turning Point

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza played his own version of the television game show Press Your Luck and came up whammies. After Clay Holmes faded in the fifth, Mendoza brough in the other Soto, Gregory, with men on second and third and nobody out. Soto gave up a single to Max Kepler, scoring Brandon Marsh to make the score 4-1, but settled down after that to prevent any further damage. But then Mendoza pressed his luck and left Soto on the mound for the sixth. Soto hit Harrison Bader, gave up a single to Kyle Schwarber, hit J.T. Realmuto with a pitch, gave up a single to Marsh and -- in what we'll call the turning point -- a single to Kepler, who notched two more RBI. The score was 7-1 and the game was out of hand as Ryne Stanek was brough in to stanch this bleeding.

Mendoza would press his luck again, sending Stanek out for a second inning. Stanek gave up a homer to Bryce Harper that put the game further out of hand.

Three Keys

Bader Brings It On

We never knew that Harrison Bader was so bitter about losing the center field battle to Tyrone Taylor, but he sure does seem to enjoy getting revenge against the Mets. Bader led off the first with a single and came around to score on a J.T Realmuto single, and the Phillies seemed to be off to the races from there. Yes, he did strike out three times, and his 2-for-5 outing actually lowered his batting average against the Mets to .548 (13-for-31) . But he was on base three times and scored two runs and seems to be angling for the Pat Burrell Mets Killer Award.

Feet of Clay

It should be obvious to everybody (are you listening, Jeremy Hefner?) that by now, Clay Holmes is gassed and could at least use being skipped once through the rotation. Holmes got off to a rocky start, yielding a quick two runs in the first inning before settling down. He made it into the fifth -- barely -- with the Mets trailing by only one run. But after J.T. Realmuto reached in an infield single, he gave up a double to Brandon Marsh and was done after 76 pitches. Holmes is up to 152 innings, about twice what he pitched last year when he was a reliever, and the strain is beginning to show as he tries to grit his way through his starts.

Soto Stays Hot

Juan Soto continued to be one of the few Mets who has remained productive even as the rest of the team's bats cooled off. With a first inning single, Soto has now reached base safely in 19 straight games (23-64 going into game, 29 runs one double one triple , seven homers 22 RBI, 20 walks, 10 steals). And leading off the fourth, he nearly hit a home run to straight away center field. The ball was either headed for the seats, just over the railing, or destined to hit the railing (which would have made it in play if it ricocheted back into the field). But a fan touched the ball, prompting several reviews, after which Soto (who had kept on running and was on third base, even after the Phillies' outfieldershas stopped), was sent back to second for a double. He scored three batters later on a Starling Marte single.

And then, in the eighth, Soto hit his 39th home run. But by then, it was too little, too late.