Without question, the best part about coming from behind to beat the Metros is watching their loser fans react to the inevitable, and last night was no exception.

In the fifth inning, when the Fightins’ were in the midst of coming back from their early 7-0 deficit, Ryan Howard jumped on an outside fastball delivered by the no-longer-intimidating Pedro Martinez. The astute CW57 cameraman must have been scoping out the angriest of the Metro fan prior to the blast, and immediately cut to a volatile gentleman who most likely dropped some major cash for a first row seat. Around the :22 second mark, you can clearly see Mr. Temper mouth some expletives before becoming so enraged, he just gets up out of his seat and walks out.

hahahaah:

“Hey. It’s brad. Now that the mets are spanking them no need to guest post.”

At 9:42 PM (when the Phillies cut the lead to 7-6):

“Okay. I take it back.

“Too late,” I replied. Didn’t these Mets fans learn anything from last year?

Career minor leaguer R.J. Swindle finally broke into the bigs last night on his 25th birthday. The junkballer’s night started off rough; surrendering a home run to the first batter he faced, David Wright, followed by four of the next six batters reaching base. But the Phillies fans in attendance (me!) were enamored by his sick mid-50’s curveball that — from my vantage point above home plate — had the movement of a wind-aided wiffleball pitch.

Swindle (great name, btw) settled down nicely after that inning, retiring six straight to complete 3 innings of work.

But perhaps his nicest pitch was his last. Facing Carlos Delgado with a 2-2 count, the lefty reared back and tossed a 54-mph curve in the general vicinity of the Mets first baseman, to which he embarrassingly flailed at and missed by about three feet. Observe:

It was a rough day yesterday for the Phils. A heartbreaking loss to the Mets in fourteen twelve innings (it just felt like fourteen) gave us an anti-climactic conclusion to a rain-delayed, thrilling comeback in the ninth inning on a two-out, two-run blast by Jayson Werth off of Billy Wagner.

(So that’s — what, six blown saves for Wags now? Not that I’m counting or anything.)

To make matters worse, the Daily News reports that Tom Gordon has been placed on the 15-day DL following yesterday’s game. So, yeah… tough day.

As is often the case with me, when the major-league teams come up short, I look to our minor leagues for a morale boost. The Soul beat the New York Dragons in the AFL playoffs Saturday, and yesterday Les Walrond of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs made team history. Walrond struck out seventeen batters in nine innings of shutout baseball as the ‘Pigs triumphed over the Louisville Bats*, 2-0.

Les Walrond: Call-up material? Let’s examine why and why not.

Why: In his last week of pitching, these are Walrond’s stats: 2 starts, 15 IP, 11 H, 3 ER (1.80 ERA), 4 BB, 21 Ks. He has some big-league experience (2 call-ups for a total of 17 games). His repertoire of pitches includes a fast-ball, a curve, a slider and a change-up that he’s now improving. Did I mention he’s a lefty? No? He’s a lefty.

Why Not: Despite his recent excellence, Walrond is 3-7 on the season. He’s averaging less than six innings per start (13 GS, 73.1 IP). The sum of his major-league experience (one year with the Royals, one with the White Sox) resulted in a record of 0-3, with an ERA of 7.46. Did I mention he’s 31 years old? No? He’s 31 years old.

*Why didn’t they just call themselves the “Louisville Sluggers?” Must have been a trademark issue.

Following a questionable called third strike to end the top of the fifth, delicate Mets outfielder Ryan Church was livid; and directed his wrath towards poor homeplate umpire Dan Iassogna.  Ryan exchanged a few harsh words with the ump, made a squinty-face like he was gonna cwy, and got so irritated, he almost  –*gasp* — threw his bat!

Sensing that his teammate was in distress, on-deck batter David Wright quickly rushed to his aid.  In order to calm Church down, Wright put his arm around him and supplied much-needed words of encouragement on the way back to the dugout before delivering a heartfelt pat on his behind.  Afterall, Ryan is concussion-prone and Davey Wright didn’t want him to get so worked up that his migraines flared up again*.  A noble gesture by a concerned teammate.

To commemorate, I’ve captured this loving moment in slideshow form:

* Ryan Church left the game after the 7th inning because his migraines flared up again.

In J.A. Happ’s first call-up to the majors (a home game against the Mets last June), the 26-year-old southpaw got a rude welcome from the visiting team, giving up seven hits and five earned runs in four innings of work. Happ returned to the minors with a big fat “L” and 94 pitches of big-league experience under his belt.

Now, with Brett Myers working out the kinks in Lehigh Valley, Happ gets a chance for payback. Or does he? Charlie Manuel has decided to pit his new starter against the formidable Johan Santana. With the series at Atlanta already decided in Philly’s favor, I’m not sure why Happ didn’t start last night, allowing staff ace Hamels to face off against New York’s primary weapon.

Santana, despite his intimidating reputation, has not exactly set the National League on fire so far. After 17 starts this season, his record is an unimpressive 7-7, with a 3.01 ERA. Santana has lost his last four decisions, and the Mets are 0-5 in his last five starts. That’s worth $138 million — right, Mets fans?

In his only start against the Phils this season, Santana gave up three earned runs and struck out ten batters in a 6-4 victory for New York. With the Phillies’ offense slowly reviving, we’ll see if they can get him to leave town with a record below .500 for the first time since April 12.

Have a great Independence Day weekend. GO PHILS!

Lookey-who came in to pinch hit for the Metros yesterday:

Whoa! Check out those gaudy stats from N’awlins!

And in case you were wondering, he popped out to deeep shortstop.

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