Mets 9, Phillies 4-Colon throws a gem, offense continues to be

“You like to see an outfielder that when he goes after a ball that he goes after it with confidence and can kind of grab it instead of looking like he hopes to catch it”, Mackanin said.

“That was a great job by Eickhoff”, Rupp said. “We needed a long game and he gave it to us”.

The Mets have dominated the Phillies, winning eight straight, 11 of 12 this season and 23 of the last 28 meetings.

“If you want to make the playoffs”, backup catcher Anthony Recker said, “you should take care of business against the teams you feel you should beat”.

After the teams tied an NL record by combining for 11 home runs on Monday, they connected for three on Tuesday and only one on Wednesday. It would help monitor the innings of their younger starters Aaron Nola, Adam Morgan and Jerad Eickhoff while giving someone like Alec Asher, acquired in the Cole Hamels trade, an opportunity to gain big league experience. To throw 40 pitches in the first inning and then throw six innings and not even get to 100, that’s pretty good.

Colon encountered problems in the first when he allowed three hits but he used a double play to escape unscathed and keep the Mets ahead, 3-0. Michael Cuddyer, nearly overshadowed in this power-packed lineup, followed with a run-scoring double, then Wilmer Flores and Michael Conforto followed with singles as Cuddyer scored a third Mets run.

But the Mets attacked early, then extended their lead in the sixth when Conforto smacked a two-out double, and Juan Uribe singled him home for a 4-0 Mets lead.

“I had a little trouble getting settled”, he said.

The Phillies scored seven runs off Jacob deGrom and five runs off Noah Syndergaard in the first two games of the series, but did nothing against Colon, who entered with a 4.90 ERA. It was also the 2nd straight night that the visitors showed that they could spot the home nine a lead, and rally from behind.

Colon allowed two runners to reach with one out in the fourth, but a fly-out to center and a strikeout protected the lead.

After Colon departed, relievers Eric O’Flaherty and Carlos Torres allowed four runs, but Tyler Clippard retired Darnell Sweeney to end the eighth while the infielder represented the go-ahead run.

For the previous four seasons, Terry Collins and his Mets players were on the other side of the equation.

Mets’ Yoenis Cespedes rounds second base after hitting a triple to score Curtis Granderson in the ninth inning.

Just in case that isn’t enough reason for the Mets to be excited, they still have six games remaining against the awful Marlins and will host a sluggish Red Sox team this weekend in Flushing. They have 84 hits and are batting. He struck out six and walked none, throwing 41 of 56 pitches for strikes. Basically, since the break, every hitter against Colon turns into National League MVP candidate Paul Goldschmidt (.327 average, .561 slugging). 3B David Wright had a scheduled day off. He was 2 for 9 with a homer in his first two games back after missing four months because of a back issue.

“He wasn’t the guy in that first inning that we saw in Miami, but after that first inning he was the same guy”, Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said.