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Dobbs' slam helps Phillies sweep Mets again

Sep 16, 2007 - 10:52 PM By Doug Mittler PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) -- Some shoddy fielding by the New York Mets and a grand slam by Greg Dobbs tightened the race dramatically in the National League East.

Dobbs hit a pinch-hit grand slam to highlight a five-run sixth inning as the Philadelphia Phillies capitalized on six New York errors to defeat the Mets for the eighth straight time, 10-6, on Sunday.

The Phillies (80-69) completed their second three-game sweep of the season at Shea Stadium and moved within 3 1/2 games of the first-place Mets (83-65) in the East.

"Today they destructed," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "They had a bad day. They had trouble catching the ball."

The Mets were swept in a series at Shea Stadium for just the third time under manager Willie Randolph. Two were against the Phillies.

"We picked a bad time to play baseball, no doubt about that," Randolph said. "We were there about two weeks ago and responded. We need to respond again."

Philadelphia, which also swept four games from New York last month at Citizens Bank Park from August 27-30, remained 1 1/2 games behind San Diego in the wild card race, after the Padres posted a 5-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants.

Carlos Beltran hit a three-run homer and David Wright connected on his 30th of the season for the Mets, but it was not enough to overcome their first six-error game since September 13, 2002 at Montreal and 11 walks by New York pitchers.

"I think we played good baseball and they played themselves out of some games," Phillies reliever Brett Myers said.

For the second straight day, it was Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins who forced the issue.

Mets shortstop Jose Reyes committed two errors on the same groundball hit by Rollins, allowing two runs to score, and left fielder Moises Alou dropped a line drive by Rollins leading to another run.

Rollins also had an RBI double and is hitting .296, again generating talk that he is a candidate for Most Valuable Player.

"If I have to chose between that and the (World Series) ring, I'll take both of them," Rollins said with a smile.

The Mets had tied the game at 5-5 in the fifth on a three-run homer by Carlos Beltran off Adam Eaton.

Yet, an error by second baseman Luis Castillo and two walks by Guillermo Mota (2-2) loaded the bases in the sixth for Philadelphia. Jorge Sosa relieved and walked Jayson Werth to force in the go-ahead run.

Dobbs then lined a pitch just inside the right field foul pole for his first career grand slam, giving the Phillies a 10-5 lead.

"I was just trying to make hard contact and get at least one run in," Dobbs said. "It doesn't matter who is on base. I just wanted to put it in play hard. It was just a matter of it staying fair."

It was the third pinch-hit home run of Dobbs' career and the second pinch-hit slam by a Phillie this season. Ryan Howard had the other May 9 at Arizona.

Dobbs also drove in the game-winning run as a pinch hitter in the 10th inning of Friday's series opener.

Despite the loss, the Mets insist their confidence has not waned.

"I don't know what you are talking about. We're still in first place, my man," Beltran said. "They are in second."

Geoff Geary (3-2) pitched two innings for the win in relief of Eaton, who was charged with five runs four earned and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings.

With the bases loaded in the second, Rollins hit a two-out grounder to Reyes, who bobbled the ball for one error and then made an errant throw to second that allowed the second run to score, giving the Phillies a 2-0 lead.

Reyes had gone 43 straight games without an error, the longest streak of his career.

In the fourth, Alou dropped Rollins' line drive at the warning track in left field for a three-base error. Chase Utley followed with an RBI single to make it 4-1.

In Saturday's win, Beltran misplayed a line drive by Rollins into a decisive two-run triple in the seventh inning. Was there a reason the Mets had trouble handling the balls off his bat?

"That's good," Rollins said. "Go ask them."

Rollins added an RBI double in the fifth on the 118th and final pitch of the day by Oliver Perez, increasing the Philadelphia lead to 5-2.

Perez struggled with his mechanics from the start, but erratic fielding made his afternoon worse. The lefthander allowed five runs two earned and six hits with six walks in 4 2/3 innings.

"I was walking the first batter and that's not good," Perez said.

Wright homered in the seventh off Geary to become the third Mets to post a season with at least 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases. He joined Darryl Strawberry and Howard Johnson.

Alou singled in the fourth to extend his hitting streak to 20 games.