Better to play the Phillies now than later.
The Mets have enough of their own problems and won’t openly make such a declaration, but they certainly won’t be facing a complete Phillies team the next three days at Citizens Bank Park.
Ryan Howard and Chase Utley will be nowhere near the playing field, as both stars deal with potentially career threatening injuries. It doesn’t change the fact the Phillies probably have the most formidable starting rotation in baseball, but there is at least hope the Mets have closed the gap on their chief nemesis.
Howard remains sidelined after tearing his left Achilles tendon in Game 5 of the NLDS last season, and Utley has battled chronic knee problems. Accordingly, the Phillies had slumped offensively, averaging only three runs over their first six games.
“Our goal is try to get both of these guys to the point where they’re on rehab [appearances] and playing, so we can assess what we’re going to get out of them,” Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro told the Philadelphia media. “But until that happens, we won’t know what kind of players they’ll be until they’re out here playing.”
Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino and Carlos Ruiz are among the core players who remain from a Phillies team that has won five straight NL East titles.
But facing the Phillies minus Howard and Utley won’t mean much for the Mets if they can’t have at least some success against Cliff Lee, Vance Worley and Cole Hamels this weekend.
Lee, who is scheduled to oppose R.A. Dickey tonight, is 2-0 with a 0.43 ERA in three career starts against the Mets.
And after making decent contact in four straight victories to start the season, the Mets slumped badly in successive losses to the Nationals. David Wright’s status remains unclear as he deals with a broken right pinky, and Ike Davis, Lucas Duda and Jason Bay are among the struggling Mets.
“Usually the dynamic of the lineup is you don’t have all eight hitters hitting all at one time,” Bay said. “But you have enough guys doing enough, and I think that is what was happening [earlier]. The first few of us were slow to get going, but all of a sudden we had other guys step up, and obviously that is the way it’s going to have to be for us.”
After the Mets’ 4-0 loss to the Nationals on Wednesday, manager Terry Collins indicated the team’s approach has to change.
“We’re taking pitches we can hit,” Collins said. “I love our philosophy of being more patient at the plate. But once in a while you’ve got to hit the balls you can hit. Those last two innings [Wednesday] we took some balls right down the middle, and you cannot do that.”
Davis, who started the season 0-for-18 before finally getting a hit on Wednesday, said he’s satisfied with his approach, but success hasn’t followed.
“I have numbers on my average now, so that’s a good thing,” said Davis, who is hitting .050. “Obviously, I’m getting pitched to pretty well. They’re hitting their spots and not really making too many mistakes. So I’ve got to keep being selective and hopefully they’ll miss over the plate.
“You don’t want to be the first player in history to go 0-for-the-season. It’s a good thing to get that out of the way, and hopefully I can keep adding on.”
mike.puma@nypost.com