Sept. 8 -- TWO OUT OF THREE AIN'T GREAT

BY SCOTT LAUBER

So, it turns out, Meatloaf (or everyone's favorite John Kruk lookalike) was wrong.

Two out of three ain't bad, unless it's September and you have a chance to sweep the first-place team in your division in your final head-to-head series. In that case, anything less than a sweep won't do. Thus, the Phillies weren't a particulary cheerful bunch as they packed their things and left Shea Stadium last night, likely for the final time ever.

To review: Jamie Moyer was great by day, Cole Hamels was mediocre by night, and in a doubleheader that was as important as any you'll see, the Phillies achieved a split. And, with 19 games remaining, they trail the Mets by two games in the NL East. "With the opportunities we gave away earlier this season, we had to sweep just to get the momentum back," Hamels said. "The opportunity we really had was to sweep, so we're going to have a tough road the last 19 games."

A look at that road:

PHILLIES
Monday-Wednesday: vs. Marlins
Thursday-Sunday: vs. Brewers
Sept. 16-18: at Braves
Sept. 19-21: at Marlins
Sept. 22-24: vs. Braves
Sept. 26-28: vs. Nationals

METS
Tuesday-Wednesday: vs. Nationals
Friday-Sunday: vs. Braves
Sept. 15-18: at Nationals
Sept. 19-21: at Braves
Sept. 22-25: vs. Cubs
Sept. 26-28: vs. Marlins

***
In a matchup of aces, the Phillies' 6-3 loss in Game 2 was decided, essentially, in the first inning.

Ryan Howard's one-out RBI single opened a 1-0 lead. But, with runners on first and second, Johan Santana struck out Pat Burrell and got Shane Victorino to fly to center field, thereby preventing the Phillies from having a big inning. In the bottom of the first, Hamels didn't get any help from plate umpire Jerry Meals, who called catcher's interference on Chris Coste to put runners on first and second with one out. But when Hamels needed to make big pitches, he gave up an RBI single to Carlos Beltran and a two-run single to Carlos Delgado to give the Mets a 3-1 lead. If Hamels could've gotten out of the first-inning jam the way Santana did, it may have been a different story.

Most of the time, Hamels will be better than that. And he better be because, as Martin Frank writes, Hamels, Moyer and Brett Myers are on pace to start 12 of the final 19 games, and the Phils' destiny may be riding on their arms.

***
Howard is the first player in Phillies history to have at least 40 home runs in three consecutive seasons. Not even Mike Schmidt did that. Howard also is only the third Phillies player to reach the 120-RBI plateau in at least three straight seasons. Chuck Klein (1929-33) and Sam Thompson (1893-95) are the others.