Halladay, Phillies shut down Mets, 11-0

PHILADELPHIA -- The Mets came back from seven runs down Wednesday night to tie the Phillies before losing. That was against Joe Blanton.

Yesterday, the Mets spotted Roy Halladay a 10-run lead. There was no coming back this time. Just the losing part.

Halladay pitched seven innings of shutout ball as the Mets dropped their second in a row, 11-0, to the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.

Jonathon Niese allowed six runs in four innings as the Mets finished their season-opening road trip 3-3. They host Washington at 4:10 p.m. Friday in the home opener at Citi Field.

"We're excited to go home," manager Terry Collins said. "We like our team. Our organization's done a good job . . . We're going to be a team that's going to be fun to watch. If we play our game, we're going to play very, very well. I think our fans are going to have fun watching this team play."

Only Phillies fans had fun Thursday.

Niese (0-1, 6.55 ERA), who pitched well in his first start of the season against Florida, seemed to have it going Thursdaywhen he pitched two scoreless innings and struck out the side in the second.

And the Mets had a chance to take the lead against Halladay in the third when three singles loaded the bases for David Wright with one out. But Halladay struck out the Mets' No. 3 hitter and got Ike Davis to ground to second.

"He's the type of guy that you don't get to him and he just gets stronger and stronger," Wright said. "I don't think that he was that sharp as he probably wanted to be today. But that's what makes him great, that he goes out there and still finds a way to put up zeros."

Halladay (1-0, 0.69) allowed six hits -- all singles -- and left with a 10-0 lead. He walked one, struck out seven and retired 12 of the last 13 batters he faced.

"You can't let good pitchers off the hook," Collins said. "I don't care who it is -- Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Koufax, Drysdale -- you can't let 'em off the hook."

The Phillies took a 2-0 lead in the bottom half on an RBI single by Shane Victorino and a run-scoring double by Placido Polanco.

They made it 6-0 in the fourth. Carlos Ruiz drove in a run with a single and Wilson Valdez (career-high four hits) dumped a double down the rightfield line to make it 4-0 and leave runners on second and third with none out. After a visit from Collins, Niese struck out Halladay and Victorino and was on the verge of escaping. But Polanco made it 6-0 with a soft two-run single to right.

"Those lazy singles, they just pile up on you," Niese said. "You'd rather see them hit it hard than get those lazy singles."

Niese's performance, coupled with Mike Pelfrey's two-innings-plus stint Wednesday, means the Mets got six innings from their starters and 10 from their bullpen in the last two days.

They also made two errors, one by Angel Pagan and one by Davis, with Davis' leading to two unearned runs. Just not a good day.

"We certainly didn't want to come home and end this good trip on that kind of note," Collins said.

But home they are. Will Mets fans really like this team, as Collins says? We'll find out starting Friday.