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Saturday, Sep. 23 7:05pm ET
Mets cut wild-card magic number to 2 | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- The New York Mets' September slump appears over. With a pair of wins over the Philadelphia Phillies, New York's magic number for clinching a playoff berth dwindled to two. "We've won three out of four and feel good about ourselves," Mets manager Bobby Valentine said Saturday night after the Mets beat the Phillies 7-3. "We're a good team, no matter what is written. We're held strong." Mike Hampton struck out nine, matching his season high, and Edgardo Alfonzo homered. Mike Piazza was 2-for-4 with two RBIs for New York, which remained 3½ games behind first-place Atlanta in the NL East. "We just wanted to get back and win games," said Piazza, who also appears to be coming out of a slump. "If we expect to be in the postseason we have to play like it." New York, which started September 7-13 before coming to Philadelphia, goes home after Sunday's series finale and finishes the regular season with six games at Shea Stadium. "Right now, at this point in the season, it's game by game," Hampton said. "We just have to worry about ourselves and how many wins it takes to get to the postseason." Hampton (14-10) won for the first time in five starts since Aug. 27, giving up three runs and six hits in 6 2-3 innings. He allowed just two runners in the first five innings, then gave up a run in the sixth and two more in the seventh. "You couldn't ask any more from a pitcher this late in the season," Valentine said. "He was terrific." Turk Wendell and John Franco combined for 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Phillies starter Cliff Politte (3-3) twice escaped bases-loaded jams and allowed three runs, six hits and four walks in six innings. "Politte battled and gave us a chance to win," Phillies manager Terry Francona said. "When he left it got away from us a little bit." New York went ahead in the first when Timo Perez, who led off with a double, scored on a fielding error by first baseman Brian Hunter. New York loaded the bases but Darryl Hamilton hit an inning-ending popout. Alfonzo homered into the left-field upper deck, just inside the foul pole, in the third for a 2-0 lead and Piazza hit an RBI double in the sixth. With the bases loaded and one out, Politte struck out Mike Bordick and Hampton. Kevin Sefcik hit an RBI grounder in the sixth and and appeared to beat Alfonzo's relay throw from second to first. However, first base umpire Greg Gibson called him out, prompting protests from Phillies manager Terry Francona and first-base coach Brad Mills. Hampton then struck out Bobby Abreu for the third time. "At the time it was a huge play. I thought he was safe," Francona said. "We had our best hitter coming up." New York made it 7-1 in the seventh on RBI singles by Piazza and Robin Ventura, and two run-scoring wild pitches by Wayne Gomes. Gary Bennett hit a two-run, two-out single in the seventh and Philadelphia then loaded the bases. Joe McEwing, who went to left as a defensive replacement, made a sliding catch of a Sefcik liner to end the inning. Game notesBenny Agbayani did not start due to a strained right hamstring sustained Friday night. While the team did not think the injury is serious, he is likely to miss two-three games. ... There was an overwhelming majority of Mets fans among the 22,570 in attendance. ... Alfonzo has five home runs in his last 11 games. ...The game took 3:46, the longest nine-inning game of the season for the Phillies, raising his season total to 23. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard NY Mets Clubhouse Philadelphia Clubhouse RECAPS NY Yankees 13 Detroit 8
San Francisco 9
Milwaukee 5
NY Mets 7
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