On the Mets beat

Happy Fourth of July! Adam Ronis here to analyze and discuss tonight's game. The Mets trail the first-place Phillies by 4 1/2 games. Johan Santana will start for the Mets. He has received some criticism lately for not being a dominant pitcher. He is 7-7 with a 3.01 ERA. Keep in mind the Mets have scored just 10 runs in his last five starts. In his only start against the Phillies this season, he went seven innings, allowed four hits, three runs, no walks and struck out 10 in a 6-4 road win on April 18.

The Phillies will start J.A. Happ, who was called up to replace the demoted Brett Myers. The 6-6 lefthander made his only major league appearance against the Mets last season and allowed five runs in four innings. He went 5-6 with a 3.54 ERA in 17 starts for Triple-A Lehigh Valley and led the International League with 104 strikeouts.

Bottom 9: Duaner Sanchez is now on the mound. Howard strikes out swinging. Burrell strikes out swinging. Feliz doubles to left. Victorino singles to right scoring Feliz. Phillies win, 3-2.

Top 9: Brad Lidge is now pitching. Easley grounds out to short. Church, pinch hitting, and pops up to Howard on the first pitch. Anderson pinch hits for Aguila and grounds out weakly to first. Lidge throws five pitches. Have to love this offense. Mets 2, Phillies 2

Bottom 8: Werth strikes out. Utley grounds to second. Rollins grounds to third. He has retired seven straight and certainly deserves a win. Mets 2, Phillies 2

Top 8: Ryan Madson is now on the mound. Chavez reaches on an infield single. Wright grounds out to first. Chavez to second. Beltran pops up to Utley. Delgado grounds out to second. We've seen this way too many times this season. Mets 2, Phillies 2

Bottom 7: Victorino grounds out to third. Coste strikes out. Bruntlett strikes out. Nice bounce back for Santana who gets them in order. Mets 2, Phillies 2

Top 7: Aguila strikes out. Santana strikes out. Reyes strikes out. Mets offense has hibernated...again. Mets 2, Phillies 2

Bottom 6:Durbin strikes out. Werth singles to left. Utley singles to right. Rollins pops up to center. Howard singles to left scoring Werth bringing the Phillies within 2-1. Burrell singles scoring Utley to tie it at 2. Feliz grounds to short. Santana threw 22 pitches and missed badly on some pitches. Mets 2, Phillies 2

Top 6: Delgado strikes out. Easley grounds out to third. Castro strikes out. Oh yeah, Santana is pitching. The Mets can't score too many runs. Mets 2, Phillies 0

Bottom 5: Feliz grounds out to first. Victorino flies to right. Coste flies out to right. He has thrown 50 pitches in five innings and hasn't worked too hard. Mets 2, Phillies 0

Top 5: Easley singles to left. Castro hits a ground rule double to the rightfield corner, which costs the Mets a run. Aguila walks on a full count to load the bases. Santana fouls out to Coste. Reyes grounds into a fielder's choice to score Easley. Chavez walks on four pitches. Wright walks to force in a run after he was down 0-and-2 in the count. Happ is taken out of the game. Chad Durbin enters to pitch. Beltran strikes out swinging on a full count. Mets 2, Phillies 0

Bottom 4: Utley strikes out swinging. Rollins fouls out to Castro. Howard singles to right. Burrell pops up to shallow right. Another solid inning for Santana. Mets 0, Phillies 0

Top 4: Wright pops up to right. Beltran struck out looking. Delgado strikes out swinging. Mets 0, Phillies 0

Bottom 3: Coste hits a liner to right and Chavez makes a nice diving catch. Happ strikes out looking. Werth grounds to short. Another great inning for Santana. Mets 0, Phillies 0

Top 3: Santana grounds out to short. Reyes lines to right. Chavez lines to left as the rain becomes harder. Not shocked here. Eleven runs last night means two tonight. Mets 0, Phillies 0

Bottom 2: Burrell flies to right. Feliz pops up to short. Victorino pops up to short as Santana throws just eight pitches. Not going deep into games because of high pitch counts has been one of his problems, so this is a good sign. Mets 0, Phillies 0

Top 2: Delgado strikes out looking. Easley flies to second. Castro singles to center for the Mets first hit. Aguila hits a liner to right and Werth makes a great diving catch. It also means Santana leads off the third. Mets 0, Phillies 0

Bottom 1: Werth singles to lead off. Just a routine 3-4-1 play on Utley. The ball went off Delgado's glove and to Easley who found Santana covering the bag. Werth advances to second. Rollins grounds to second and Werth goes to third. Howard grounds out to Santana. Way to work around the leadoff hit with three ground balls. Mets 0, Phillies 0

Top 1:Reyes leads off with a walk. Chavez grounds out to third sending Reyes to second. Reyes steals third for his 29th of the season. Wright pops up to second. Beltran pops up to right. Guess the Mets realize Santana is on the mound and they don't like scoring runs for him. Mets 0, Phillies 0