Phillies blank Mets, tighten NL East race

Baseball Betting Lines

09/05/2008 - Flushing, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brett Myers dominated on the hill, hurling eight shutout innings to lift the Phillies to a 3-0 win over the New York Mets, tightening the gap in the NL East in the start of the final series this season between the division rivals.

Myers (9-10) allowed three hits and walked a pair while matching a season-high with 10 strikeouts in winning his fourth straight start. The righty is 6-1 in nine starts since returning from a minor-league stint July 23. Greg Dobbs hit a clutch two-run homer in the seventh and Chase Utley plated a run in the first with a groundout.

The Mets entered the series on a four-game winning streak but Philadelphia cut New York's lead in the division to two games with the win after dropping two of three in a series with the Nationals.

At this time last year, the Mets were five games up in the division, an edge that would swell to seven with 17 tests to go in the campaign. However, New York then dropped three straight to the Phillies from September 14-16 and ended the season losers in 12 of their last 17 games to lose the division to Philadelphia on the final day of the season.

Mike Pelfrey (13-9) pitched admirably in defeat with seven strong innings, giving up three runs -- two earned -- on four hits and a pair of walks while striking out four. Daniel Murphy doubled twice in the loss for New York.

Philadelphia took an early lead with a run in the first. Shane Victorino slapped a single through the right side, stole second and moved to third when catcher Brian Schneider bounced the throw at second into center field. Utley brought Victorino home on a groundout to first.

Myers and Pelfrey traded scoreless frames over the next five innings with Myers setting down 11 in a row until a Murphy double in the sixth. He was stranded however, as David Wright popped out to second and Carlos Delgado flied to center, ending the inning.

The Phils extended their lead with two-out, two-run homer just over the right field wall from Dobbs. Ryan Howard started the seventh inning with a walk before Pelfrey recorded two quick outs. Dobbs then connected on a 2-2 fastball and the ball just cleared the outstretched glove of Ryan Church, who was camped under the wall.

Myers needed just 11 pitches to dispatch of the Mets in the seventh and set them down in order again in the eighth before Brad Lidge came on for the ninth.

Lidge got Murphy to fly out to center, but Wright hit a ground-rule double to center and Delgado followed with a single. Carlos Beltran, however, flied out to left and Church lined to center for the final out, giving Lidge his 34th save in as many opportunities this season.

Game Notes

The Mets lead the season series 10-6, but the Phillies enjoy a 5-2 mark as the visitor going into their last ever visit to Shea Stadium...The Mets are coming off a 6-2 road trip and began an eight-game homestand...The Phils are now 4-4 on their 10-game road trip...Saturday's scheduled starters are Jamie Moyer (12-7) for Philadelphia and Pedro Martinez (5-3) for New York...The Phillies reached a contract agreement with infielder Tadahito Iguchi Friday. Iguchi is expected to join the team before Saturday's scheduled game. It will be Iguchi's second stint in Philadelphia as the club acquired him from the White Sox in the 2007 season to fill in for an injured Utley...Major League Baseball suspended Philadelphia minor league pitchers Ricciard Rodriguez and Luis Castillo after both tested positive for performance-enhancing substances during the Venezuela Summer League...Phillies pitching coach Rich Dubee was ejected by home plate umpire Paul Emmel for arguing balls and strikes in the sixth.