Since Jimmy Rollins made his infamous “Team to Beat” comment at the beginning of the 2007 season, the Phillies and Mets have been blossoming into one of the best rivalries in the game.

2007 changed things, however, after Rollins proved to be accurate in his prediction when the Phillies overcame a seemingly unsurpassable deficit to overtake the Mets on the last day of the season. That season was ripe with memorable moments, including sweeps (three, to be exact), walk-off bombs (Howard vs. Mota), 12-foot base hits that tie the game (Thank you, Aaron Rowand), and of course, blown saves (Hiya Billy!).

When the Mets went out and got Johan Santana before the 2008 season was underway, it again spawned a war of words between the teams. Rollins predicted 100 wins, while the normally soft-spoken Carlos Beltran stole Jimmy’s catchphrase from 2007.

Although the 2008 race wasn’t nearly as memorable as 2007, these two teams still had a handful of games that were bound to be instant classics.

Among them was the matchup on July 22 that saw new Phillie Joe Blanton facing off against Johan Santana at Shea Stadium.

Although the Phillies got off to a good start against Johan by plating a run in the first inning, their offense would be stagnant against the southpaw for most of the night, with the exception of a solo homer from Shane Victorino in the seventh.

Blanton wouldn’t be able to match Santana, as he allowed 5 ER in six innings of work. The bullpen would hold the Mets at bay in the 7th and 8th inning, but the offense would need to get something going if they were going to win this game.

Santana was his usual self, pitching eight strong innings while allowing 2 ER on 105 pitches. He was still sharp into the late innings, but Jerry Manuel pulled his ace, despite a leaky bullpen that was prone to giving up late leads.

Such was the case on this night, when relief pitcher Duaner Sanchez gave up three straight singles to Jayson Werth, Greg Dobbs and Shane Victorino to load the bases. Joe Smith was brought in to put out the fire, but a mental gaffe by Jose Reyes turned a double play into a costly mistake.

With the bases chucked, Carlos Ruiz hit a clean bouncer to the left side of the infield in what was sure to be a double-play. Instead of shoveling the ball to second base to start the 6-4-3, he opted to bare-hand the ball while simultaneously stepping on the bag before tossing to first. Of course, Reyes misjudged the distance to the bag, allowing Victorino to slide in safely. Werth scored on the play, and the bases were still loaded for pinch-hitter Geoff Jenkins.

The Mets brought in Pedro Feliciano to face Jenkins, but was pinch-hit for with the So “Oh-fer” Taguchi, who was hitless as a pinch-hitter to that point in the season. With the tying run 180-feet away, Taguchi took one the other way and dropped a double over the head of Endy Chavez, bringing the score to five-all.

Jimmy Rollins would double to right, giving the Phils a 7-5 lead, and he would later score on a Ryan Howard groundout, to put them ahead by a score of 8-5.

Brad Lidge came on to close things in the bottom of the ninth, and despite giving up a run, he would finish the job, securing the 8-6 win for the Phillies.

Player of the Game: So Taguchi, who went 1-1 with 2 RBIs in his first pinch hit of the season.
But why was this game key to 2008? For obvious reasons, it was en eff-you to the Mets, who couldn’t get out of their own way, despite a brilliant performance by Santana. Besides that, the Phillies showed, yet again, that they are one of the very few teams in the Bigs that plays 27 outs. The Mets made the mistake of letting the Phillies off the mat, and they made them pay.

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