Heroes of someone else’s story: Phillies 7, Mets 1

Jesus Luzardo, Edmundo Sosa and the Phillies take advantage of the Mets’ swoon

Those of you who have read my writing over the years will recognize that I have a few theories about “how things seem to go” in baseball. One of those theories is that when a team is going poorly, and might be going through an extended losing streak, they’ll often have one “get right” game in which everything goes right for one night.

For instance, a team on a seven-game losing streak might have a game in which they hit seven(!) home runs and win going away. But as often happens, they go back to struggling the very next night.

After the ugliness the Phillies endured on Saturday night, I reassured people that the game wasn’t really about the Phillies. Sure, it would have been ideal if they hadn’t given up all those home runs, but that was more about the Mets getting their act together for one night, and any opponent would have probably been similarly bludgeoned.

Sure enough, the Mets responded by getting blown out by the Phillies 7-1 on Sunday night. The Phillies won the game, but really, the story of the game was that the Mets are in a bad way right now, and the Phillies were there to take advantage.

That said, I don’t want to diminish what the Phillies did on Sunday night. Just because your opponent is going through a massive team-wide slump, you still have to do your part. And it’s especially nice because there is a sentiment among Phillies fans that the Mets have their number. (Obviously, the playoff loss goes a long way in pushing that narrative, but the Phillies had a winning series against the Mets in both the 2023 and 2024 regular seasons.)

The Phillies certainly did their part, most prominently starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo, who dominated the Mets lineup. He pitched 6.2 shutout innings, allowing just three hits when walking only one.

Luzardo’s ERA still remains over 4.00, but that is extremely deceptive. Aside from two disastrous starts, he’s been excellent. Keeping in mind that even the biggest blowout only counts for one loss in the standings, I’ll take that over a pitcher whose 4+ ERA comes from being just okay most starts.

Luzardo was great from the very beginning, but it took the Phillies’ offense a few innings to get going. Facing lefty starter David Peterson, the Phillies had just one hit in the first three innings. It looked like they were starting to rally in the third, but Edmundo Sosa helped stifle that threat by getting picked off second base. (Don’t worry, he made up for it.)

The shutout ended as many shutouts end: A Kyle Schwarber home run.

That seemed to get the Phillies untracked. After Alec Bohm lined out, Nick Castellanos doubled, J.T. Realmuto walked, and Otto Kemp singled to make it 2-0. One batter later, Sosa made it 5-0.

The Phillies went quiet for a few innings but added a couple of insurance runs in the seventh, courtesy of a Bohm sacrifice fly, and an RBI double by Castellanos.

The Mets avoided the shutout when Francisco Lindor hit a solo home run against Max Lazar in the eighth, but that accomplished little but making the score slightly less depressing for Mets fans.

Thanks to the series victory, the Phillies now find themselves solely in first place of the National League East. After an off day on Monday, they’ll take that status to Houston for a series against the Astros. Unlike the Mets, the Astros are not in free fall, so if the Phillies are to win that series, they’ll likely have to do so on their own merits without any help.