Read It and Sweep

"I'm responsible. I'm the manager. It's my job to get these guys going and I will." 

- New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza

Immediately after the "unsinkable" Titanic sank, many people were quick to put the blame on Captain Edward J. Smith. He was the obvious choice. He had received no less than six ice warnings, yet decided not to reduce speed, change course, or post additional lookouts.

But over the course of the next few months, three inquiries - one in the United States and two in England - shed additional light on the disaster and spread the blame more equally around. The insufficient number of lifeboats to accommodate everyone on board and the decision not to include a double skin in the construction of the ship played a major factor in the huge loss of life that night. There was also a mystery ship ten miles away that, had it responded, could've arrived in time to pick up hundreds of passengers that later froze to death in the North Atlantic.

We still don't know how the 2025 Mets season will end. But as of right now, it's fair to say that this once invincible ship is taking on water and seriously listing. It's hard to believe it but on June 12, their record was 45-24. They were five and a half games up on the Philadelphia Phillies and looking to run away with the National League East. After getting swept by those same Phillies last night, the Mets record now stands at 76-71, and they are only one and a half games up on the San Francisco Giants and Cincinnati Reds for the last Wild Card spot. For the benefit of those who didn't bring their calculators with them, the Mets are 31-47 since June 13. Only the Colorado Rockies, Minnesota Twins and Washington Nationals have a worse record over that span. 

While I admire Mendoza's courage and willingness to throw himself under the bus, by no means is he the main culprit in this disaster. The chief architect of this shit show that currently resides at CitiField is none other than G.M. David Stearns. It was his decision not to re-sign Jose Quintana and instead sign Frankie Montas. Quintana wound up signing with the Milwaukee Brewers - the first place Milwaukee Brewers - for $4 million and is currently 11-6 with a 3.88 ERA, while Montas is making $17 million and was 3-2 with a 6.28 ERA before going on the IR. He then, for some strange reason, convinced Clay Holmes that he could be a starter, despite the fact he hadn't made a start since 2018. Not unexpectedly, the former Yankees closer is running out of gas over the last few weeks.

At the trade deadline, Stearns opted for Cedric Mullins form the Baltimore Orioles instead of Harrison Bader from the Twins, believing that Bader, like he did in Queens last year, would not be a productive second half hitter. But Bader is batting .339 since being acquired by the Phillies, while Mullins is batting an anemic .174 for the Mets. Stearns also elected not to pursue a starter at the deadline, despite the fact that the starting rotation was crying out for someone who could go more than 5 innings. The strain on the beleaguered bullpen was bound to take its toll. Overall, the team ERA is an abysmal 4.02, 10th worst in the majors. On June 12th, it was a major-league best 2.80.

And speaking of the bullpen, while no one could've foreseen that Ryan Helsley would implode the way he has, it's worth noting that Stearns could've gotten Jhoan Duran from the Twins for a little bit more than what he paid for Helsley, and Duran would've been under team control for another two years, unlike Helsley, who's a free agent after this season. Imagine Bader in center and Duran setting up Edwin Diaz. How many more wins do you think this team would have right now with just those two players on the roster? Four, five, six? Even three more wins would mean a four and a half game lead on the Giants and Reds with a nine-game home stand starting tonight.

This is what happens when your owner spends $765 million on one player and your GM shops at the bargain basement store for a pitching staff. The sad fact is that the Mets are wasting a spectacular second half by Juan Soto, who since August 1, is first in the majors in OPS, on-base percentage and stole bases, second in home runs, and third in slugging percentage. Indeed, he's one home run and five runs batted in away from being only the fifth player in major league history to have at least 40 HRs, 100 RBIs and 30 SBs in a single season. The other four are Jose Conseco (1988), Barry Bonds (1996), Alex Rodriguez (1998), and Shohei Ohtani (2024).

Imagine having a lineup with Juan Soto, Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor AND still missing the playoffs. That is unacceptable, and yet that is the likely fate which awaits this team over the next couple of weeks unless something dramatic happens. And let's be honest: even if they were to clinch that last Wild Card, do you have any faith that this team can win two games in Philadelphia, where Phillies fans will be frothing at the mouth looking to exact revenge for last year? Me neither.

But before I make Stearns out to be a modern day J. Bruce Ismay - look it up - the players deserve some of the blame here. Including last night's fiasco, the Mets are now 0-63 when trailing after 8 innings. Last season, they had nine comeback wins in the 9th inning, 45 overall to lead the majors. You can have the greatest front office in the history of the sport but if your players don't perform up to ecxpectations you're not going anywhere. 

So there you have it: a season with high expectations, that got off to such a great start, has now spiraled into a tailspin that knows no end.

I hope you brought your lifejackets. That ocean's pretty nasty. 

From Despair to Hope

On August 15, the New York Mets were in the midst of the worst slump of their season. They had just lost 11-9 to the Milwaukee Brewers, their 14th loss in 16 games. They were 64-58, six games behind the first place Philadelphia Phillies, and only a half game in front of the Cincinnati Reds for the last Wild Card spot. The team that was two wins away from going to the World Series last season was in jeopardy of dropping out of the playoff picture altogether.

To be honest, with the preseason the New York Giants were having, I was pretty much done with baseball and looking forward to football season. I have a sneaky suspicion a lot of Mets fans were feeling the same way. No fanbase, except for maybe the Jets, has had more experience saying "Wait'll next year."

And then Nolan McLean took the mound at CitiField on August 16 and did something a Mets starter hadn't done since August 4: pitch at least five complete innings without surrendering an earned run. And unlike that early August game, which was a 7-6 loss to the Cleveland Guardians, this time around, the Mets prevailed 3-1. McLean went 5.1 innings, allowed 2 hits, 4 walks, no earned runs, and struck out 8. It was his first start in the majors and it could not have come at a better time for this beleaguered franchise.

So far, the 24 year old righty has started three games for the Amazins, and his stats are off the charts. In 20.1 innings, he is 3-0, with 21 strikeouts and a 0.89 earned run average. That is better than what Jacob deGrom, Dwight Gooden and Tom Seaver did in their first three starts. Last night, he threw eight shutout innings to help the Mets complete a three-game sweep of the Phillies to pull them to within four games of first place.

McLean's arrival has been a Godsend for the Mets. They are 8-3 in their last eleven, and have outscored their opponents 74-40. But even before he was brought up from Syracuse, there were signs that things were starting to turn around. Since August 12, New York's batting average with runners in scoring position is .388. Prior to that, it was .233.

Leading the way is Mark Vientos. After an impressive rookie campaign in which he hit .266 with 27 HRs and 71 RBIs, the third baseman was having a hellish second season, hitting just .234 with 7 HRs and 31 RBIs through July. But in August, he has rediscovered his swing and his swagger. He's hitting .297 with 6 HRs and 18 RBIs. He's tied with Francisco Lindor with an OPS of 1.000. Only Brett Baty - 1.002 - is higher. Juan Soto, the 765 million dollar man, is hitting .400 with an OPS of 1.156 with runners in scoring position since July 29. Even Tyrone Taylor is getting into the act. He's hitting .360 with an .OPS of .888 this month.

 

But with the starters continuing to struggle getting past the 5th inning, David Stearns has seen enough. He's calling up Jonah Tong from Syracuse, who will make his season debut Friday night against the Miami Marlins. Tong was 8-5 with a 1.59 ERA at Binghamton this season, and 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA at Syracuse. There are those in the organization who think his ceiling might be higher than McLean's. Meanwhile, Brandon Sproat, who's 7-6 with a 4.50 ERA at Syracuse, could be called up in September. The Mets haven't had three young starters with this much potential since the days of deGrom, Matt Harvey and Noah Syndergaard. Now you know why Stearns was reluctant to part with his top prospects at the trade deadline.

A revived offense that can hit in the clutch and averages seven runs per game; a revamped starting rotation that can go six or more innings; this was the way the Mets drew it up on the board before the year started. With 29 games remaining in the regular season, the Flushing Faithful finally have something they can look forward to in October.

The Tragic Is Back!

Another series played, another series lost. That makes three series in a row that the New York Mets have lost, during which they've gone 1-8. Yesterday's near shut out at the hands of the Cleveland Guardians - they were literally two outs away from being no-hit - just underscores how futile their level of play has been since winning seven in a row.

Forgive me if this sounds familiar, but on June 12, the Mets record stood at 45-24. They were solidly in first place in the National League East, five and a half games up on the Philadelphia Phillies. They had just swept the Washington Nationals after having swept the Colorado Rockies. They were on a roll. The Flushing Faithful had visions of 1986 dancing in their heads. 

Since then, the Amazins have gone 18-28, and are now in second place, two and a half games behind the Phillies. Their team ERA, once the best in the majors at 2.87, is a second-worst 4.99 during this skid. Their team batting average has gone from .248 (12th) to .225 (24th). Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso, who were unquestionably the two best offensive players on the team early in the year, are clearly struggling. In the month of July, Lindor and Alonso batted a woeful .206 and .141 respectively. Apart from a few games, Juan Soto, the 765 million dollar man, has yet to get untracked in his rookie campaign as a Met; of his 26 home runs this year, 20 have been solo shots.

If the season ended today, the Mets would face the Phillies in the Wild Card round as the visitors. The way they've played the last seven weeks, I wouldn't be surprised if they got swept.

This is not the same Mets team we saw last year. Last year, the Mets found ways to win games; this year, they're finding ways to lose them. Case in point, a game against the San Diego Padres in July. After the Mets took a 5-1 lead in the top of the 5th inning, courtesy of a Mark Vientos grand slam, Frankie Montas and Huascar Brazoban couldn't hold it. The Padres scored five runs in the bottom of the 5th and eventually won the game in the bottom of the 9th. The loss mirrored almost exactly another one in June against the Tampa Bay Rays at CitiField. Once again, the Mets jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the 5th; once again their bullpen couldn't hold it. In both instances, that loss was followed up by a prolonged losing streak.

Resiliency is a word that doesn't get used a lot in baseball; it's typically reserved for sports like football, basketball or hockey. That's because, as Earl Weaver once said, momentum is only as good as your next day's starter. Unfortunately for the Mets, their starting rotation has been neither resilient nor momentum stoppers. When they've needed a strong performance, they haven't gotten it. David Peterson has been the most consistent of a very weak lot, and his ERA over his last two starts is 4.50. The only bright spot has been the back end of the pen, where Ryan Helsley and Edwin Diaz have yet to give up an earned run in the month of August. But given how many times the Mets have taken a lead into the 8th or 9th innings over the last few weeks, that's not much of a consolation prize. 

I won't mince words. This team is in big trouble. They're not pitching, they're not fielding and they're not hitting, especially with runners in scoring position, where they continue to be near the bottom of the league. Their 18-28 record since June 13 is tied with the Atlanta Braves and the San Francisco Giants for the worst in baseball.

And with three upcoming games against a Milwaukee Brewers team that is 9-1 in their last 10, this skid has the potential to get considerably worse. The Mets are only three games ahead of the Cincinnati Reds for the last wild card spot in the National League. By Monday morning, they could conceivably be out of the playoffs. At the rate they're going, they will be lucky to finish the season above .500 let alone go to the World Series.

For a team with the second highest payroll in the majors at $339 million, that would represent the worst fail in franchise history.

Mets in a Free Fall

"Tough stretch, no sugarcoating it. I didn’t see this coming. I’m as frustrated as everybody else. We will get through this period. Our injured pitching will come back over the next few weeks. It is unlikely the team’s hitting with RISP will continue at this weak pace. Keep the faith!" -  Steven A. Cohen, owner of the New York Mets

With all due respect to Steve, this is not just a tough stretch. A tough stretch would be going 2-7. It's hard to fathom, but on June 12, the Mets were 45-24, twenty-one games over .500 and solidly in first place in the National League East. After yesterday's loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, they're now 48-37, and the only reason they're a game and a half out of first is because the Philadelphia Phillies haven't exactly taken off.

The Mets are 3-13 in their last 16 games. In colloquial terms that's called a free fall. And the worst part about this "stretch" is that they haven't been remotely competitive in most of their losses. In the three-game sweep against the Pirates, New York was outscored 30-4, their most lopsided series loss in their 64 years as a franchise. Given how many bad teams this organization has fielded over its history, that is a damnable stat.

They're not hitting; they're not pitching; in short, nothing is going right. Ironically, the only player who's exceeding expectations is Juan Soto. For the month of June, the $765 million dollar man hit 11 home runs, drove in 20 and batted .322 with an OPS of 1.196. Conversely, Francisco Lindor - the leadoff hitter - had 4 homers, 10 RBIs and batted .204 with an OPS of just .628.

It's one thing to keep the faith; Mets fans are experts at that. It's quite another to look in the mirror and know the truth. Despite its top-level talent, this team has more holes in it than a block of Swiss cheese. The starting rotation has been ravaged by injuries. Kodai Senga, Sean Maneae, Frankie Montas and Griffin Canning have all spent time on the IR. Canning is lost for the year after rupturing his left Achilles against the Atlanta Braves last week. 

The bullpen, which had been the best in baseball for most of the season, since June 13 has sprung more leaks than the Titanic and Lusitania combined. Over the last 16 games, their combined ERA is 6.59. Apart from Edwin Diaz, there isn't a single reliever Carlos Mendoza can trust in a tight spot.

And contrary to what Cohen alluded to in his tweet, the RISP issue is not a recent thing. It's plagued this team all season long. The Mets are batting just .217 with runners in scoring position. Only the Chicago White Sox at .208 are worse. To put that in perspective, the Phillies, Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers - the current division leaders in the National League - are batting .262, .281 and .298 respectively with runners in scoring position. 

The bottom half of the lineup is as close to an automatic out as there is in baseball. After coming back from a hamstring injury, Mark Vientos looks lost at the plate. In his last three games, he's gone 1-13, and that one hit was a dribbler up the third base line. Ronnie Mauricio, aside from smacking three dingers, clearly cannot handle major-league pitching; and Francisco Alvarez had gotten so bad, the Mets were forced to send him back down to Syracuse to help him get his swing back. All the faith in the world can't overcome this level of ineptitude.

The fact is the Mets, even with the second-highest payroll in baseball, lack the depth to be a good team. David Stearns has done a credible job of piecing together a pitching staff that until recently was the envy of every GM in the majors. And now it is coming unglued. Take away Lindor, Soto, Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo, and most of the remaining hitters would have a hard time cracking the Oakland A's lineup. Even in a sport as individualistic as baseball, you still need more than a handful of players to win a championship.

If this hemorrhaging doesn't come to an end soon, the Flushing Faithful may have to endure yet another year of bitter disappointment.

But then that's become a rite of passage, hasn't it?

Mets Get a Wakeup Call

Going into their series against the Tampa Bay Rays at CitiField, the New York Mets were 16-4 in their last 20 games. They boasted the best team ERA and the second-best runs scored and against differential in Major League Baseball. With an overall record of 45-24, they were solidly in first place in the National League East, five and a half games ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies. It looked like they were ready to put the pedal to the metal.

And when they jumped out to a 5-1 lead over the Rays in game one, it certainly appeared as if they were doing that. The Mets scored two runs in the bottom of the 4th and three more in the bottom of the 5th to erase an early 1-0 Tampa Bay lead. Clay Holmes was in complete command, allowing one run and three hits through five. But Carlos Mendoza decided to pull him after just 79 pitches.

That's when the roof fell in on the Mets. The Rays lit up Paul Blackburn and Max Kranick like a Christmas tree in the top of the 6th, scoring six runs, two courtesy of a two-run homer from Danny Jansen, who entered the game with a .194 batting average. The Mets lost the game 7-5.

It didn't get any better for the Amazins the next two games. They lost 8-4 and 9-0 respectively; the latter coming on Father's Day with 42,804 disappointed fans in attendance. Imagine having that many people in your stadium and getting embarrassed like that. It was the first time this season that the Mets had been swept in a three-game series.

Perhaps this was just an anomaly; a couple of stinkers in an otherwise long schedule. After all, the Mets were due for a let down sooner or later. And it's not like the Rays are a bottom feeder; in fact, they're a pretty good team. Over their last twenty games, they were averaging five and a half runs per game. To put that in perspective, the Mets are averaging 4.55 runs per game for the season.

Or perhaps it was a wakeup call. For much of 2025, the Mets have relied on their pitching to carry them. And until this series, that formula was working. But the Rays exposed a flaw in that formula. They beat up on a bullpen that is starting to show signs of wear and tear not even half-way through the season. They also did a number on Tylor Megill and Griffin Canning, both of whom appear to be reverting to form.

After an impressive April in which he posted a 1.73 earned run average, Megill's ERA in May and June ballooned to 5.96 and 5.52 respectively. Over his five years as a big-league pitcher - all with the Mets - Megill is 26-26 with a 4.46 ERA. This is who he is, folks.

Coming into this season, Canning had a career ERA of 4.78 with the Los Angeles Angels. Take away the start he had against the Dodgers in LA earlier this month, and Canning has allowed 16 earned runs over his last 15 innings pitched. We have a word for that: it's called atrocious.

With Kodai Senga sustaining a hamstring injury in his last start, and Sean Manaea still out with an oblique injury, the starting rotation is going to be under duress for the foreseeable future. And aside from Edwin Diaz, Reed Garrett and Huascar Brazobán, the bullpen has been a huge question mark of late. A pitching staff that had been rock solid for most of the season now looks very vulnerable.

And the concerns don't end with the pitching. While Juan Soto has finally awoken from his early-season slumber, there are gaping holes in this lineup. Francisco Alvarez continues to struggle offensively. In 32 games, he's hitting .241 with only two home runs and 10 RBIs. His platoon mate Luis Torrens isn't any better. His slash line is .231 / 1 / 13. Ronny Mauricio, who was brought up from Syracuse when Mark Vientos went down with a hamstring injury last month, looks lost at the plate. Aside from a few games here and there, there's been virtually no production from the DH spot. And while Tyron Taylor is a human vacuum cleaner in center field, he's practically an automatic out at the plate. Put succinctly, the bottom four of the batting order isn't pulling its weight. Overall, the Mets are hitting just .218 with runners in scoring position this season; third lowest in the majors.

Put it all together and it spells trouble for a Mets team that had designs on going all the way this season. David Stearns has done an incredible job assembling this roster, but it's clear there's more work that needs to be done. The GM needs to add at least one more bat to this lineup and a couple of arms to this beleaguered bullpen. Mendoza can't keep playing Russian Roulette with his relievers hoping they don't implode the way Blackburn and Kranick did against the Rays.

Over the next ten days, the Amazins play the Atlanta Braves seven times and the Phillies thrice. After a rough stretch, Philly has won five in a row. As for Atlanta, while their record is a disappointing 31-39, they always play the Mets tough. The Flushing Faithful will never forget how the Braves came from seven games behind in August to win the division in 2022. Anybody who thinks this is a walk in the park doesn't know what they're talking about. If the Mets go 6-4, they'll be lucky.

The trading deadline is July 31. Plenty of time for Stearns to work his magic. 

Mets Off To a Roaring Start

Four weeks into the 2025 baseball season, the New York Mets are 18-7, five games ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League East and currently sitting atop the major league standings. After going 7-0 on this home stand, they are now 12-1 at home, their best start in franchise history, and that includes 1986.

And here's the thing: they are doing all this with Juan Soto still stuck in second gear. With a few rare exceptions, he's been a non-factor this season. Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor have done most of the heavy lifting. And speaking of Alonso, the Polar Bear is off to his best start as a Met. Here is his slash line so far and where it ranks: AVG .341 (5th), HRs 6 (5th), RBIs 26 (T 1st), OBP .440 (4th), SLG .681 (3rd), OPS 1.122 (2nd).

As for Lindor, after going hitless in March, the Captain is batting .349 with 5 HRs, 14 RBIs and a .972 OPS in April, including a walk-off homer against the St. Louis Cardinals and two dingers against the Phillies. How unusual is this? Last season he couldn't hit his way out of a paper bag in April and May.

And while The Three Amigos - Lindor, Soto and Alonso - rightly garner most of the attention, the rest of the lineup is starting to pick it up. Mark Vientos hit a pair of home runs on this home stand, Brett Baty crushed a two run homer into the upper deck and Starling Marte got the game-winning hit to complete the sweep against the Phillies. Isn't it fun when everyone contributes?

The pitching continues to dominate. In 2024, the Mets team ERA was 4.03. This year, it's 2.34, first in the majors. The San Diego Padres are next at 2.92, followed by the Detroit Tigers at 2.94. The starters have not allowed a home run in their last 12 starts, and the bullpen, apart from Edwin Diaz, has been almost spotless. In eleven relief appearances this season, Reed Garrett has yet to give up an earned run. Overall, the staff has the 8th lowest WHIP in baseball at 1.18.

What a difference a year makes. Last season, the Mets got off to a so-so start in April, then did a swan dive in May. It wasn't until after Memorial Day that they began to put it together. From June 3 through the end of the regular season, the Mets were the best team in baseball with a record of 65-38, and a .631 winning percentage. 

This season, the Mets winning percentage is .720. Over a 162 game schedule that translates to a record of 117-45. While no one seriously believes they'll win 117 games, if they simply duplicate last year's .631 win percentage from June thru September, that would come out to 102 regular season wins. I'm pretty sure Steve Cohen would be very happy with that, especially if it's followed up with 11 postseason wins. 

If you think I'm getting ahead of myself, consider this: we know that Soto is going to eventually start producing; he almost had his first CitiField home run the other day but it went foul by about two feet. Jeff McNeil and Francisco Alvarez are set to return Friday, while Frankie Montas and Sean Manaea are due back in mid May. With the Phillies bullpen in disarray and the Atlanta Braves off to a poor start, the Mets should be the clear favorites to win the NL East. The only question is whether they will have the home-field advantage in October?

To reiterate what I wrote in my last piece on the Mets: The excitement is palpable; the expectations couldn't be higher.

For the Mets It's Déjà Vu All Over Again

The New York Mets embark on what will be the most crucial part of their season over the next ten games, which coincidentally happens to be their last ten games of the regular season when they begin a four-game series with the Philadelphia Phillies at CifiField Thursday night. Whether there's a postseason, however, remains to be seen.

The Mets - 84-68 - are tied with the Arizona Diamondbacks for the second Wild Card in the National League, two games ahead of the Atlanta Braves. They have control of their own destiny. If that sounds familiar, it should. Two years ago, almost to the day in fact, the Mets found themselves in the exact same position. They were two games up on the Braves for first place in the NL East, needing to win just one of three games in Atlanta to wrap up the division. But the Braves swept the Amazins and they were forced to settle for the first Wild Card spot. They then went on to lose to the San Diego Padres in the Wild Card round.

The experience left a bitter taste in their mouths. They knew to a man they were the better team, but the Braves were better when it counted: down the stretch; the Mets folded like a bad poker hand.

Well, here we are two years later. Once again the Mets have their fate in their own hands. Four games against the Phillies, three against the Braves, and three against the Milwaukee Brewers. For what it's worth, this is a much better team than the one that collapsed late in the 2022 season. Both their starting pitching and bullpen (yes, THIS bullpen) are deep, and they are among the best scoring teams in the league. Since June 1, the Mets are 60-35, the best record in the majors. The Houston Astros are next at 57-37. If this team were to make it into the postseason, they would be very difficult to beat.

But that's the catch: they have to get in first. It won't be easy. The Phillies are battling the Los Angeles Dodgers for the overall best record in the National League, which would earn them a bye in the first round. As for the Braves, well, let's just say that the Mets don't have a good track record against them. The last time they bested them in a meaningful series was 1969. They will be battling a lot of past demons when they play them next week in Atlanta.

Regardless of how these next ten games go, David Stearns deserves a lot of credit for not panicking at the trade deadline. The moves he did make made sense and helped solidify the team. By not mortgaging the future, like his predecessor did, he held onto his young players. One of them, Luisangel Acuna, was called up to replace the injured Francisco Lindor. To say he's hit the ground running would be an understatement. He's hitting .467 with 2 HRS, 4RBIs and an OPS of 1.400 in just five games. 

Acuna was the gem the Mets got in the Max Scherzer deal. While Scherzer has been injured most of this season, Acuna had an impressive season at Triple A Syracuse. This kid is going to be a star. Can you see him playing alongside Lindor in the Mets infield? How many owners do you suppose would be willing to eat $88 million just to restock their prospect pool? Steve Cohen also deserves a lot of credit for this turnaround.

For now, though, the Mets future is now. Luis Severino goes up against Taijuan Walker of the Phillies. Severino has been the Mets most consistent pitcher all season long, while Walker - an ex-Met - has struggled. It is vital the Amazins get off to a good start against this Phillies team. A week ago, they dropped two of three in Philadelphia. They would like to exact some payback.

They can start tonight.