As excited as I was for the first game of 2009 between Phillies and the Mets, by the time the Phillies stepped to the plate in the bottom of the third inning, I was praying for rain.  Starter Chan Ho Park struggled out of the gate, allowing a two-run home run to Danny Murphy in the first inning, and it didn’t get much better as the Phillies fell to the Metropolitans, 7-4.

The Good:
-  Chase Utley continued to tear the cover off the ball, finishing 1 for 2 with two walks.  His lone hit was a solo home run in the seventh inning (his eighth on the season), cutting the Mets lead to 7-4.

- Raul Ibanez only had one hit in four at-bats, but his lone hit was a two-run single.  Ibanez leads the Phillies in batting with a .354 average, and is second in the club in RBI’s (to Utley), with 19.

- The bullpen had another strong night.  The combination of Chad Durbin, J.A. Happ, & Clay Condrey threw four-and-a-third innings of shutout baseball, only allowing one hit.

The Bad:
Due to the ineffectiveness of the starting pitching, Charlie Manuel was again forced to use the bullpen for half of the game.  Over the last four games the bullpen has thrown a combined 16 2/3 innings, while the rotation went 19 1/3 innings.  That is not exactly the ratio you want to see out of your pitching staff at any part of the season.

- Jayson Werth continues to struggle.  Werth went 0 for 3 with a strikeout, leaving three men on base.  Werth is now 1 for 14 on the home stand.

The Ugly:
- Jimmy Rollins has carried his ugly spring into May going 0 for 4 with a walk.  He was caught stealing in the fourth inning (his second CS of the year).  Rollins still seems to lack the intensity he had last season.  He’s appears lost at the plate, and seems to have forgotten how to steal bases (Rollins was caught stealing only three times last season;  in 50 attempts).

- Greg Dobbs’ baserunning blunder in the sixth inning ruined any real opportunity the Phillies had to get back into the game.  With runners at first and second, Rollins hit a smash to shortstop Jose Reyes.  The ball went off Reyes’ glove into left field and,  seeing this error, Dobbs went from first to third.  Unfortunately, he didn’t realize the Chris Coste was standing on third.  Coste was thrown out at home.  Instead of the bases being loaded full of Phillies with one out, it was runners on second and third with two outs.  The next batter, Shane Victorino flied out to centerfield, ending the inning.

- How can we talk about ugly without mentioning the starting pitching?  Park had another ugly outing, reminding all Phillies fans that he hasn’t been an effective starting pitcher since 2001.  Park went four-and-two-thirds, allowing seven runs on eight hits and six walks.  It was honestly painful to watch Park on the mound, and if the bullpen hadn’t been used as often as it has lately Park wouldn’t have gotten out of the third inning.  Park has allowed 20 earned runs in 21 innings as a starting pitcher this season.

- Through 21 games, Phillies pitching has allowed 41 home runs.

Jamie Moyer (3-1, 5.06 ERA), will take the mound for the Phillies today.  Moyer is coming off his best start of the season where he allowed one run and struck out six in six innings, as the Phillies beat the Marlins 13-2.  The Mets will turn to Oliver Perez.  Perez has struggled this season (1-2, 9.31), and in his last outing was booed off the mound at Citi Field after allowing seven runs in four-plus innings to the Natinoals.  Another rough outing could mean his removal from the Mets rotation.  Perez dominated the Phillies last sesaon, going 1-0 witha 0.34 ERA.  He allowed one run in 26 innings.