Mets score four in 10th to top Phillies
Ruben Tejada jumps over Laynce Nix of the Philadelphia Phillies after getting the out at second base. (Aug. 28, 2012) Credit: Getty Images
PHILADELPHIA -- Usually, when the Mets and Phillies meet late in the season, one team is steaming toward the postseason and the other is looking ahead to next year.
You know which team is which.
But this year, the five-time defending NL East champion Phillies are not close to a playoff spot. Unless they have a miracle run in them like the Rays and eventual World Series champion Cardinals did in 2011.
If the Phillies don't make it, they may have the Mets to blame. The Mets snapped Philadelphia's four-game winning streak Tuesday night with a come-from-behind, 9-5, 10-inning victory at Citizens Bank Park.
The Mets, who have won three in a row, improved to 9-4 vs. the Phillies and 6-1 here. After falling behind 4-1 in the first inning and 5-4 in the fifth, the Mets tied the score in the eighth on Kelly Shoppach's two-out double that scored David Wright from first.
"He should be the player of the game for being fast today," Shoppach said.
Then the Mets exploded for four runs in the 10th off B.J. Rosenberg (0-2) and finished with their highest run total since they scored nine on Aug. 2 in San Francisco.
"I saw some quickness in some bats I haven't seen in a while," manager Terry Collins said.
The 10th started with Wright's bloop single. He scored the go-ahead run on Ike Davis' double to left-center. Lucas Duda made it 7-5 with an RBI single to center and Shoppach (3-for-5, three RBIs) capped the barrage with a long, two-run blast to left.
"I'll tell you what I see," Collins said. "This team has been accused of folding it up. I disagree with that. I disagreed with it when I heard it. I know those guys in that locker room, I know what they're made of, I know what their personalities are, and when you don't hit, it looks like you don't care. That's just the nature of the game. When you don't hit, and there's no action going on, it looks like you've folded up. And they have not. They're going to play it out. There's guys playing for jobs, there's guys playing for careers, and there's still a lot of fight."
Bobby Parnell (4-3) threw two scoreless innings for the win. The Mets' bullpen didn't allow a run in 5 2/3 innings in relief of Chris Young.
Ryan Howard hit a first-inning grand slam off Young; it was Howard's third against the Mets. That tied him with Mike Schmidt, Willie McCovey and Albert Pujols for the most ever against the franchise.
The Mets took a 1-0 lead in the top of the inning when the first three batters singled off Vance Worley, with Wright driving in Ruben Tejada. Mike Baxter hit a two-run home run in the fourth for the Mets.
The Phillies (61-68) remained 10 games out of the NL's second wild-card spot. Too much to overcome? Probably. But the Cardinals were 10 1/2 games out of the NL's only wild-card spot last Aug. 25. And the Rays were nine back in the AL on Sept. 4. Both teams made the playoffs.
"Nothing surprises me in the game," Collins said when asked if he thought the Phillies could make a run. "If somebody runs off 10, 11, 12 in a row and all of a sudden they're back in the hunt, I wouldn't be surprised."
