In what is shaping up as another season to forget, Tuesday’s was certainly a game the Mets would like to put behind them.
While the Mets had won five of their previous seven, their offense had remained largely quiet. So seeing Cole Hamels on the mound for the last-place Phillies was hardly ideal, and the left-hander dominated for eight shutout innings, beating the Mets, 6-0 at Citi Field.
Afterward, manager Terry Collins chose to focus on what lies ahead.
“It was one of those nights,” Collins said. “[Wednesday] becomes the biggest game we play this week.”
It’s no wonder Collins changed the subject to Wednesday’s matchup between Zack Wheeler and Kyle Kendrick.
The Mets — whose ugly play was matched only by their bright orange ‘Los Mets’ uniforms — had just two runners in scoring position as Hamels outdid Dillon Gee, who was hurt by a pair of solo homers, a lack of run support and some shoddy work out of the bullpen by Josh Edgin.
Gee, after a stellar return in his first start after returning from the disabled list with a lat injury, suffered through two rotten outings before Tuesday. He was hardly the reason the Mets lost, because he wasn’t permitted to make any mistakes.
Still, Gee ended up surrendering five runs in 6 ²/₃ innings and has coughed up 15 runs in 16²/₃ innings in his last three starts.
“For the most part, I thought I did pretty well,” said Gee, who fell to 4-4. “The results aren’t there, but I’m confident going forward.”
He gave up a two-out solo homers to Jimmy Rollins and Grady Sizemore before leaving with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh. Edgin came in and surrendered a grand slam to Chase Utley to erase almost any hope in Queens.
“Chase seems like he does something big against us all the time,” Collins said.
And now he can add Edgin to his list of victims.
“I got behind Utley a little bit,” Edgin said. “Then I threw a fastball down the middle. That’s what he’s paid for.”
For the Mets to get back to respectability, though, they will need Gee to regain the form he had before he went down with a lat injury in May. He threw 102 pitches, his highest pitch total since he got hurt.
“The most frustrating part is I thought I threw the ball a lot better than I had in the previous outings,” Gee said, adding that he had no problems physically. “When the result isn’t there, it’s very frustrating. … You look at the line and it doesn’t make you feel good.”
Neither does their record, which slipped back to five games under .500 (51-56).
Before Hamels (6-5), who has been the subject of trade talk ahead of Thursday’s deadline, got into a rhythm, the Mets wasted two singles in the first, as Chris Young — who has shown some life at the plate recently — struck out to end the inning.
David Wright hit a two-out double in the third, his 25th of the season, but Hamels fanned Eric Campbell to get out of it.
That was pretty much it for the offense, as Hamels retired the last 13 batters he faced and the Mets were shut out for the ninth time this year.
“I know we’re capable of scoring runs,” Gee said. “It’s just Cole was good tonight. He was definitely better than I was.”