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Phillies-Mets Preview

Jun 10, 2009 - 5:21 AM By DAN PIERINGER STATS Writer

Philadelphia (33-22) at New York (30-25), 7:10 p.m. EDT

The New York Mets have three former All-Stars on the disabled list, and none are on the verge of returning.

Continued success at home and against the rival Philadelphia Phillies, however, has made those absences much easier to deal with.

The banged-up Mets go for their 13th win in 16 games at Citi Field - and fifth in six games against the first-place Phillies - as the top clubs in the NL East continue a three-game series Wednesday night.

First baseman Carlos Delgado (hip surgery) has missed a month and is at least another month away from rejoining the team. Relief pitcher J.J. Putz (elbow) had bone spurs removed Tuesday and will be sidelined about 10 weeks. And Jose Reyes (hamstring) still has no timetable for returning from various leg injuries that have kept him sidelined for most of the last month.

Despite missing those key contributors, New York (31-25) has managed to stay competitive thanks to its play at home and against the defending World Series champions. The Mets are 12-3 at their new ballpark since the start of May and 4-1 against the Phillies (33-23) overall this season.

New York, which lost the division to Philadelphia on the final day of each of the last two seasons, opened this series with a 6-5 victory Tuesday night behind home runs from David Wright, Carlos Beltran and Ryan Church.

"Any game that we win is big for us at this point," manager Jerry Manuel said. "Until we feel as though we are healthy, every game is a huge game for us."

The Phillies got four homers of their own against ace Johan Santana, but they still fell for the third time in four games since a season-high seven-game winning streak.

"It was a good game," said shortstop Jimmy Rollins, who had three hits including a two-run homer. "The only bad thing was we lost."

The Phillies have to like their chances of bouncing back behind Cole Hamels (4-2, 4.40 ERA), coming off his third career shutout and first this season. The left-hander threw 97 pitches in the five-hitter, retiring 18 of the last 20 batters he faced to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-0 on Thursday.

Hamels is 4-0 with a 2.84 ERA over his last seven outings after opening 0-2 with a 9.69 ERA while dealing with elbow pain in his first three starts. The NL championship series and World Series MVP in 2008 doesn't anticipate any more problems going forward.

"I had a little bump in the road with the elbow soreness, and that kind of delayed some things," he said. "But I'm ready to go now."

Though he's been solid lately, Hamels has struggled in his last three starts against the Mets, posting a 5.82 ERA while losing all three games. He's 1-3 with a 3.79 ERA lifetime against New York, which he hasn't faced yet in 2009.

The Mets counter with Mike Pelfrey (4-2, 4.85), who gave up a career-high nine runs - eight earned - in 3 2-3 innings of an 11-6 loss at Pittsburgh on Thursday.

Pelfrey, a right-hander, is 3-2 with a 4.19 ERA in six starts against Philadelphia. First baseman Ryan Howard is 5 for 14 (.357) with a home run and four walks in his career against him.