Mets not in same class as Phils

PHILADELPHIA

Has a team ever held a 1-0 lead yet trailed in a ballgame? Because that's sure as heck what it felt like Saturday at Citizens Bank Park, watching the Mets hold on to the slimmest of leads against the most dominant of pitchers, facing a team with a champion's confidence.

"With a guy like him out on the mound, you've got to minimize your mistakes," said Jon Niese, the pitcher who held that one-run edge. "Any mistake that costs you could potentially be the game."

"I think we feel like we have enough guys in that lineup that, if you keep it close, we're going to find ways in a lot of close games to win," said Roy Halladay, the aforementioned "guy like him," who allowed the game's first run. "We did it last year a lot at the end and so far have done it pretty well this year."

Sure enough, the Phillies put up a two-spot in the seventh and Halladay went the distance to hand the Mets a 2-1 loss, their third straight after that glorious six-game winning streak against terrible teams.

Long season ahead, we stipulate, yet with April now in the books and the Mets (11-16) exactly one-sixth done with their schedule, it's fair to borrow an observation from former NFL coach Dennis Green: So far, the Mets are who we thought they were.

"It just seems like we're either playing really well and everything's clicking, or we're not doing too many things right," David Wright said.

"It's very frustrating," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "[The 10-3 loss to the Phillies on Friday night] wasn't typical of the way we've been playing, but we played a very good last game in Washington [Thursday]. We played a very good game today.

"But as I've always said, this is the major leagues. You've got to keep playing, keep plugging along, because it's not going to get any easier."

(Especially not Sunday night, when Halladay's fellow Cy Young Award winner, Cliff Lee, will pitch for the Phillies.)

"I thought it was an outstanding ballgame," Collins said.

Wright added: "Today wasn't necessarily us. It was more Halladay and those guys getting those couple of big hits."

Agreed. Niese pitched very well until he hung a 3-and-2 curveball in the seventh to John Mayberry Jr., who slammed it over the leftfield wall for a tying homer.

There will be some nights when the Mets beat themselves and many more in which they simply can't keep up.

Without a bona fide top-flight starting pitcher to keep pace with any of Philadelphia's first four (Halladay, Lee, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels), and with an offense that looks decent but not elite, the Mets aren't equipped to stay with the National League's elite team, particularly at the Phillies' ballpark.

The good news is that, given time and resources, general manager Sandy Alderson and his lieutenants can put the Mets back among the league's best. You've already seen that the Mets' new front office acts with reason, certainty and alacrity. Even when you don't agree with a move, you understand why they did it.

The bad news is that, given the tenuous status of the Wilpons' and Saul Katz's finances, there's no guarantee Alderson will receive the time or the resources to finish the job.

No reason to sweat such big-picture stuff now, though. "Come out [Sunday] and fight, get some pitches to hit like we did today and do some more damage," Collins vowed.

If Lee is on, that's gonna be tough. If a team isn't careful, it can feel as if it's trailing before it even arrives at the ballpark.