The Philadelphia Phillies beat the New York Mets 10-7 at Citizens Bank Park in a game where they blew a seven run lead.
For the pitchers tonight, it was a game of who imploded last. The Phillies jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead as Mike Pelfrey turned his second straight awful start and continued his career struggles at Citizens Bank Park. He lasted only two innings, allowed eight hits and was charged with six earned runs. Then it became Joe Blanton's turn to implode.
After cruising through the first three innings, Blanton would be charged with seven runs between the 4th and 5th inning, blowing the seven run cushion he had been given. He was pulled for Antonio Bastardo, who combined with J.C Romero, Ryan Madson & Jose Contreras to hold the Mets to two hits and no runs for the remainder of the game. On a positive note for Blanton, he did have two RBI.
The final pitching meltdown of the night would come courtesy of Mets reliever Blaine Boyer, who immediately gave back the Phillies their lead after surrendering two runs in the bottom of the fifth and an absolute bomb from Ben Francisco in the 6th.
Ryan Howard had a monster game for the Phils going 4-4 with a HR and two RBI while also getting on base in all five of his plate appearances. Howard is currently hitting .524 on the season. Ben Francisco also homered and scored three runs, while Placido Polanco drove in three runs on three hits.
The Phillies send Roy Halladay out tomorrow at 3:05 for the rubber game of the series.