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Mets hope to keep offense alive against Hamels, Phillies

Jul 29, 2014 - 1:50 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - Cole Hamels hasn't achieved much success in his career against the New York Mets, but hopes his recent surge can change that.

The Philadelphia Phillies will send the left-hander to the mound Tuesday for his 30th career start against the Mets. Hamels is 7-14 with a 4.38 earned run average in the first 29 starts in this series and will face the Mets for a fourth time this season.

Hamels is 0-1 in three starts against New York in 2014, but has a 3-0 record to go along with a 1.88 ERA in his last four appearances. Hamels struck out 10 batters and walked one over eight innings of one-run ball in Thursday's 2-1 victory versus San Francisco.

Philadelphia's 2008 World Series MVP is 5-5 overall with a 2.72 ERA and 3-3 in nine road starts this season. The Phillies are 7-3 in Hamels' last 10 starts and could possibly trade the southpaw before the deadline.

New York will counter Hamels with Dillon Gee. Gee will make his 12th start and has a 4-3 record with a 3.49 ERA.

Gee was 3-0 in four starts before losing his last two and gave up six runs in five innings of a 9-1 loss at Milwaukee on Thursday. The right-hander, who is 2-1 in six home starts this season, has faced the Phillies 11 times (10 starts) in his career and is 3-3 with a 7.15 ERA.

The Mets jumped all over the Phillies in Monday's series opener, handing their NL East rivals a 7-1 beatdown. A two-run double by Juan Lagares highlighted a four-run first inning for the Mets, who used Travis d'Arnaud's three-run homer in the fifth inning to grab a 7-0 lead.

D'Arnaud finished with three hits, including two doubles, and Daniel Murphy also collected a pair of two-base hits. Mets veteran starter and possible trade candidate Bartolo Colon allowed 10 hits, but gave up just one run with six strikeouts and one walk in 7 2/3 innings.

The Mets, who are 5-2 in the last seven games, will also host San Francisco for four games on this homestand and had scored three or fewer runs in each of the previous nine games. They have won four straight and eight of nine at home.

"The big picture is real simple and that's we got to play good," said New York manager Terry Collins. "We made it a point when we started the last homestand to play better at home and we did. If you play good, the record will speak for itself."

Philadelphia fell back into the loss column last night and starting pitcher A.J. Burnett couldn't keep the winning trend intact. Burnett surrendered all seven runs and eight hits in five innings for the Phils, who entered this series having won three of four games.

"I hung some pitches up there tonight," said Burnett. "I wasn't that sharp tonight, and I'm capable of pitching a lot better than that."

Carlos Ruiz went 4-for-4 and drove in Philadelphia's lone run with an RBI double in the eighth inning. Marlon Byrd also had four hits in defeat and Ryan Howard finished 0-for-5.

The Phillies will visit Washington for four games on this road trip and were 5-2 in the last seven road games before Monday's loss. The Phillies are 25th in the majors with a .242 batting average and 26th with a .303 on-base percentage.

The Mets are 7-3 against the Phillies this season, with six wins over the past seven encounters.