Who are these guys?

So. The Phillies went into the big Citi to face the Mets in a three game set scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The Mets were five (5) games back in last place in the NL East while the Phillies were in first place. (Since there are five teams in the NL East, it was kinda crowded!)

The Mets had 35 year-old knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, a "new" Japanese immigrant (legal) in Hisanori Takahashi and big Mike Pelfrey going to the mound. They were backed up by a bullpen that has seen a huge number of innings of work in this young season.

Going into Tuesday’s games, the Mets bullpen had made 151 relief appearances, the most in the major leagues. And Manuel has used two setup men — the left-hander Pedro Feliciano and the right-hander Fernando Nieve — in 27 and 26 games, which placed them first and second in the National League in that category.

The Phillies lost all three games. Not just "lost" but they got shut out In. All. Three. Games. Each of the starting Mets pitchers went deep into the game (Dickey and Takahashi pitched through 6 innings while Pelfrey tossed 7 innings.) The "over worked" bullpen slammed the door in all three games as the Mets won 8-0, 5-0 and 3-0.

The current standings show the Mets in third place just 2 games back of the Phillies and 1/2 game behind the Braves. The Phillies are on the road against the Marlins while the Mets are playing at Milwaukee. The Mets have five (5) game win streak on the line but they have been terrible on the road. (They are 6-14 on the road vs 19-9 at Citi Field.) The Phillies are 13-10 at home and 13-10 on the road.

If the Mets really want to be contenders, they are going to have to pick up their game on the road. Tonight would be a good time to start. The Brewers are 19-28 and 8 1/2 games back in the NL Central. Better: They are just 6-15 at home. Even better: The Mets have Johan Santana pitching tonight.

LET'S GO METS!