Mets Shut Out by Phillies

Saturday night’s game at a frigid Citi Field was the epitome of all the fears of Mets doubters — the offense cannot back up the stellar starting pitching. That was the story as the awful Phillies blanked the Mets 1-0.

Bartolo Colon threw six stellar innings, striking out seven and walking his usual zero. He allowed just one run — a towering Ryan Howard home run in the fifth.

Still, Colon absorbed the loss because the Mets bats could not solve the Phillies pitching. Starter Vince Velasquez allowed just three hits while striking out nine in his six innings. Not only did the terrible Phillies bullpen keep the Mets off the board, it held them hitless as well.

Asdrubal Cabrera collected two of the Mets hits. He was moved up to the second spot in the lineup, replacing David Wright, who got a scheduled day off to rest his back. Wright was up and around in the dugout, ready to pinch hit in the ninth if the Mets got anything going. Unfortunately, they did not.

No one is panicking just yet (except antsy Mets fans on Twitter), but it should be warmer in Flushing for the rubber game on Sunday; let’s hope the Mets bat heat up as well.