Hamels, Phillies aim to bounce back against Mets

By PATRICK GORDON | Managing Editor
June 1 2014, 1:00PM EDT.
@Philabaseball

PHILADELPHIA - The Phillies enter Sunday's contest against the Mets at Citizens Bank Park just five games off the pace in the NL East - a remarkable feat if you consider the team enters Sunday with the third worst run differential in all of baseball.

The club has alternated wins and losses over their last nine games and not won consecutive games since winning three straight from May 17-20. The Phillies have also struggled at home, limping into June with a 12-17 mark at Citizens Bank Park.

Cole Hamels enters Sunday with a 1-3 mark to go along with a 4.43 ERA. He'll be opposed by Jonathon Niese who is sporting a 3-3 record with a 2.74 ERA.

For his career, Hamels has struggled against the Mets - piecing together a 7-14 record to go along with 4.51 ERA over 28 starts.

Daniel Murphy (17-for-40) and David Wright (23-for-70) have had significant success against Hamels and both are slotted in Sunday's lineup for the Mets.

Wright drove in the game-winning run in the 14th inning on Saturday with an RBI single to lift the Mets to a 5-4 win.  For his career, Wright has 19 home runs at Citizens Bank Park.

As for the Phillies, the offense is hitting .229 over the past two weeks and ranks fifth worst in baseball over that span in strikeout percentage at 23%.

Phillies lineup:  Revere 8, Rollins 6, Byrd 9, Ruiz 2, Howard 3, Mayberry 7, Hernandez 4, Brignac 5, Hamels 1.

Mets lineup: Lagares 8, Murphy 4, Wright 5, Campbell 3, Young 7, Granderson 9, Tejada 6, d'Arnaud 2, Niese 1.

Notes: The Phillies are 1-7 over their last eight home games against the Mets ... Domonic Brown is hitting .130 (3-for-23) during the current homestand and has just 4 home runs over his last 276 at-bats dating back to last season.

Roster Moves: Prior to Sunday's game the Phillies placed Jeff Manship on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right quad and optioned Darin Ruf to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. To take their placed on the 25-man roster the club recalled reliever Phillippe Aumont and purchased the contract of reliever Cesar Jimenez from Lehigh Valley. To make room on the 40-man roster the Phillies DFAd Jeremy Horst.

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