It was a match-up of the old ace against the new ace.
Roy Halladay had been considered one of the best pitchers in the sport for nearly a decade, but in 2013, it appears that a new ace is on the horizon in Mets' pitcher Matt Harvey; and for the first time the pair went toe-to-toe in Philadelphia, and it was Harvey, not Halladay, who led his team to an impressive victory on Monday.
It is not fair to call this a changing of the guard as far as pitchers are concerned. While Halladay has struggled this season, he has earned the right to figure things out and prove he can return to form. Teams are just starting to learn about Harvey.
However, when John Buck cracked a three-run home run to right center, giving the Mets a 3-0 lead, it felt like a one time Mets nemisis was no more. Halladay was 7-0 in his Phillies career against the Mets -- they were his personal whipping boys ever since he switched leagues, but on this night the Mets flexed their muscles and pushed the Phillies best pitcher back on his heels.
The Mets patience at the plate against Halladay didn't stop there. Daniel Murphy and David Wright drew walks in the third inning setting up a scoring opportunity for Lucas Duda, who coming into this game never had a hit against Halladay.
That changed too.
Duda sliced a single to center, driving in Murphy to give the Mets a 4-0 lead.
Then in the fifth, Murphy cracked a ground rule double to right, moved to third on a Halladay wild pitch, and came around to score on a David Wright single. Ike Davis chased Halladay out of the game when he singled up the middle to put two runners on with none out in the fifth.
After Marlon Bryd and Buck failed to get the runners home, Phillies reliever Chad Durbin threw a fat pitch to Ruben Tejada that the struggling shortstop nailed over the head of Chase Utley to bring in two runs making it 7-1 Metropolitans.
As for Harvey, he backed up last week's one-hitter against San Diego in ace-like fashion. He went seven innings, gave up only three hits and a run, while striking out nine batters. So far this year, Harvey has 19 strikeouts, and an ERA of 0.64. He had a usually potent Phillies lineup guessing all night.
The surprising Mets are now 5-2 on the season, and only a game back of the Braves in the NL East. Another day, another litmus test passed.
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