Cliff Lee was stellar in a matchup of Cy Young-talented pitchers as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the New York Mets 3-1 on Monday night to move closer to the NL Wild Card.
Lee stuck out 10 batters and was sharp for eight innings as he faced off against New York's R.A. Dickey, who is a Cy Young contender with an 18-6 record and 2.67 ERA.
"He controlled the game, he was that good," Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel told the Associated Press.
The Phillies are now 3 ½ games back of the St. Louis Cardinals for the second NL Wild Card spot.
"It was a big win. We're kind of running out of games," Lee said. "Three or four teams ahead of us that we've got to catch and pass. Definitely not where we want to be."
The Phillies took an early lead on a Chase Utley sacrifice fly and shortstop Jimmy Rollins hit a home run that needed a conformation from video replay and the umpires.
After starting the season without a win for his first 14 starts, Lee has been absolutely brilliant, winning four of his last five starts and not allowing more than one walk in 14 straight.
"The way that he has been throwing the last month, month and a half, you knew it was probably going to be a tight game," Dickey said. "The margin of error decreases when he's pitching."
Philadelphia had been slumping, losing three out of four to the lowly Houston Astros before taking on the Mets. New York has been struggling mightily at home in the second half of the season, going 4-22 and scoring three runs or less in a team-record 14 straight games.
There was a sense of dread for the Mets from the first pitch of the game, when Dickey's knuckle ball bounced past catcher Mike Nickeas and into the dirt. Rollins reached base later on a passed ball and scored off of Utley's sacrifice.
In the fifth inning Rollins hit a fly ball over the top of the wall in right field, thinking he had a triple. The umpires convened and looked at the play and decided Rollins had hit a home run. He has already his six this month and 21 on the season.
The Mets added a run in the bottom of the inning on a Daniel Murphy RBI single, but the Phillies put the game away in the seventh after Dominic Brown hit a solo home run.
Jonathan Papelbon closed out the game in the ninth for his 35th save of the year.
Dickey was going for his 19th win of the year, which would have tied him with the Nationals Gio Gonzalez for the best in the league. He allowed five hits and had eight strikeouts in seven innings.
"You feel for him, because all he's done is given himself a chance to win a baseball game," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "We'll go back at the end of the year and recount the number of games where he didn't get a decision, or he's allowed us an opportunity to win, and hopefully it doesn't get back to bite him too bad."
Philadelphia is still behind Pittsburgh, Milwaukee and the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Wild Card standings with 14 games left to play.
But making up ground isn't a new thing for the Phillies, who previously overtook the Mets in 2007 after trailing by seven games with only 17 left to play.
The team is hoping to continue its five-year streak of making the playoffs. Rookie Tyler Cloyd (1-1, 4.95 ERA) will pitch for the Phillies on Tuesday against Mets rookie Matt Harvey (3-5, 2.92 ERA).
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