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Zack Wheeler Obliterates Overmatched Mets as First-Place Phils Complete Sweep

August 9, 2021
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Plenty of Mets fans were in attendance for the first two games at Citizens Bank Park this weekend, but after watching their team continue a stunning collapse on Friday and Saturday, most of them stayed away for the series finale.

Smart move.

Phillies starting pitcher Zack Wheeler completely blew the doors off an overmatched Mets lineup, turning in what was unquestionably his signature start in a season filled with several brilliant performances. After helping the Phillies secure their first eight-game winning streak in 10 years, they lead the now third-place Mets by 2 1/2 games, having gained a staggering seven games in the standings over an eight-day stretch.

The Mets had absolutely no answer for Wheeler, who recorded his 14th career double-digit strikeout game, as he blitzed through an impotent lineup en route to a 108-pitch complete game shutout.

After the game, I asked Joe Girardi about Wheeler’s effort. He provided an emotional answer — one that I did not see coming.

“On a day that you honor one of the greatest pitchers that I’ve witnessed pitch, he goes out, and it was like Roy [Halladay] had his hand on him,” Girardi said. “He gives a Roy Halladay appearance today.”

It remains to be seen if Wheeler will win the National League’s Cy Young Award this season, but he continues to make one hell of a convincing case.

After allowing a first-inning leadoff double to Brandon Nimmo, Wheeler retired the next 22 New York batters he faced. The Mets didn’t put another runner aboard until Michael Conforto reached on a one-out walk in the eighth.

In a perfect confluence of events, the last time a Phillies pitcher retired at least 22 consecutive batters came during Halladay’s perfect game, one that took place 4,089 days ago.

“To do that on his day, what can you say? Today was his day, and I just tried to pitch like him,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler finished the day with 11 strikeouts, pumped the zone with strikes on 74% of pitches, and his fastball velo flashed extra life throughout, averaging 98.5 mph.

“There was a little extra in him today. He went through a very tough lineup and pitched extremely well,” Girardi said. “He held his velocity. He’s throwing 96 and 97 mph sinkers. I mean, that’s not easy to hit. That’s not easy to square up.”

Wheeler had everything working, and I mean everything.

After throwing his fastball on just 75 of 205 pitches (36.6%) over his previous two starts, Wheeler threw it 55 times (51%) against a Mets lineup that has struggled lately with big velocity.

“I think you try to be smart. You don’t want to get carried away,” he said. “I came in having a game plan of throwing more fastballs. It didn’t matter what team it was. My past few starts, I wanted to throw more fastballs because I felt like kind of got away from it. Just happened to match up a little bit and the ball was flying really well for me today.”

Wheeler, who now has a 2.02 ERA in 14 home starts the season, began the day with a Major League-best 5.1 WAR, according to FanGraphs. He currently leads all starters with 156 innings pitched and 181 strikeouts while also stacking up with the game’s elite by almost every statistical measure.

Going Solo

After the Mets unsurprisingly wasted their only legitimate scoring threat of the day, the Phillies quickly got on the board in the bottom of the first thanks to a one-out solo homer by Jean Segura.

Segura promptly fell behind in the count, but fouled off a pair of Taijuan Walker pitches before working the count even. He then ripped the seventh pitch of the at-bat 393 feet out to left.

Two batters later, J.T. Realmuto doubled the Phillies’ early lead with an opposite-field homer to right.

The pair of solo shots quickly jolted the season-best 39,186 fans in attendance and set the tone for a 3-0 win that put an emphatic exclamation point on a convincing Phillies’ three-game sweep during which they never trailed at any point.

The Phillies’ bats would go into a four-inning slumber, but would reawaken in the sixth when Bryce Harper lifted his 20th homer of the season out to left.

Rhys Hoskins liked what he saw.

Given Wheeler’s dominance, the 3-0 lead might as well have been a 10-0 lead.

And Then What Happened?

Mets owner Steve Cohen might have a lot of money, but he doesn’t seem to have a very good feel for his baseball team — or how to play things on Twitter.

It’s great and all that Cohen is a fan, but he is a case study on why no owner should tweet. Ever.

 

 

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