You can’t blame this one on Billy Wagner.
The Mets last night endured another stunning collapse at the hands of the Phillies, this one an 8-6 loss at Shea thanks to a six-run Philadelphia ninth inning that wasted a strong outing from Johan Santana and brought back memories of last September’s Amazin’ meltdown.
PHOTO GALLERY: Phillies Beat Mets
The loss dropped the Mets into a second-place tie with the Marlins, one game behind Philly in the NL East.
Wagner was unavailable to pitch because of what the team said were spasms in his left shoulder. That left it up to Duaner Sanchez to protect a 5-2 lead in the ninth inning. He gave up three straight singles to load the bases and departed with a sense of dread in the air. The crowd of 55,081 shifted in their seats, knowing what was coming.
Joe Smith took the ball next and got Carlos Ruiz to hit a slow grounder just to the left of second base. Jose Reyes tried to tag second but Shane Victorino beat him to the bag and Jayson Werth scored. Pinch-hitter So Taguchi, one of the Cardinals’ heroes here in the 2006 NLCS, then doubled to right off Pedro Feliciano to knock in Greg Dobbs and Victorino and tie the game, 5-5.
Old nemesis Jimmy Rollins then managed his first hit of the night with a two-run double, giving the Phillies a 7-5 lead.
“We just happened to have a bad night,” interim manager Jerry Manuel said. “I obviously made some bad choices and it didn’t work out.”
This certainly was the worst loss under Manuel and probably the worst loss since the final day of last season, when Tom Glavine flushed away the playoffs against Florida. One minute sole possession of first place felt within reach, the next the Phils had hung a six-spot on the Mets and brought back the pessimism that has called Shea Stadium home since last year.
“It started last year,” Rollins said. “You never give up.”
Sanchez wore the goat horns after blowing the three-run lead. Still, the right-hander did not think he pitched poorly.
“I pitched well,” Sanchez said. “This is one of those games where you make pitches and it doesn’t go your way. . . . I made pitches, that’s all I can do.”
The stunning defeat must have Santana thinking he’s cursed here. The left-hander gave up eight hits and two runs in eight innings while striking out four and walking none and still came away without a victory. Santana threw 105 pitches, and Manuel said he would have brought him out for the ninth if Pat Burrell hadn’t doubled in the eighth.
“I was told that I was done, and I’m not going to go against anything here,” Santana said. “At that time it looked like it was the right decision. I don’t know what the results would’ve been if I would’ve stayed out there for the ninth.”
The Mets left a few runs on the base paths that came back to haunt them. Third base coach Luis Aguayo made two errors, both times resulting in Endy Chavez getting thrown out at home.
“Obviously as they worked out, (those) weren’t very good decisions at that point, but that’s part of being a third-base coach,” Manuel said.